Continuous Tuning and Efficient Intracavity Second-Harmonic Generation in a Semiconductor Disk Laser With an Intracavity Diamond Heatspreader

Using a wedged and antireflection-coated diamond heatspreader, a continuously tunable semiconductor disk laser with intracavity second-harmonic generation (SHG) is demonstrated. Output powers of ${> 600}~\hbox{mW}$ tunable over 10 nm around 530 nm are obtained. Finite-element modeling shows that the use of a diamond heatspreader for thermal management—in contrast to substrate thinning approaches—permits power scaling across the 670-2300-nm range of these lasers. Using a green laser as an exemplar, this paper details the issues involved in translating this spectral coverage to the ultraviolet and visible via SHG. Polarization and wavelength selection are discussed and the adopted approaches presented. Almost 1 W of second-harmonic light at 530 nm is demonstrated, with an efficiency of 11% with respect to the incident pump power.