Fourth harmonic generation in a resonant ring cavity

We have analyzed the generation of the fourth harmonic of pulsed laser radiation in a ring cavity that resonates at the second harmonic wavelength. With the help of numerical simulation, the dependence of the conversion efficiency on input laser power as well as cavity loss and nonlinear crystal coefficient is obtained. The model predicts over 50% conversion from the fundamental to the fourth harmonic with less than 1.2 MW of input power (10 mJ in 8.5 ns). The results compare well with experimental measurements where 39.5% infrared-ultraviolet conversion was obtained using low power from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser.