Tunable UV generation with a frequency-mixed type II OPO

Remote measurements of atmospheric gases such as ozone from airborne and ground-based platforms are currently made with a wide variety of UV laser sources. The capabilities of these existing systems could be significantly enhanced if compact, efficient, reliable, high peak power, tunable solid state laser sources could be developed. Such developments would also enable these systems to be deployed in small aircraft or on orbiting Space platforms. We have produced 38 mJ pulses of UV laser radiation with a frequency-mixed type II KTA OPO in the 290-300 nm region. The OPO exhibits 42% slope efficiency. The entire transmitter fits into a lidar transceiver package consistent with the size constraints of an unmanned aeronautical vehicle (UAV). The conversion efficiency from 1064-nm pump to 300 nm for this laser system (7%) is among the highest reported.