High-energy all-solid-state sodium beacon laser with line width of 0.6 GHz

Abstract

A high-energy all-solid-state sodium beacon laser at 589 nm with a repetition rate of 50 Hz is introduced, which is based on sum frequency mixing between a 1,064 nm laser and a 1,319 nm laser. The 1,064 nm laser, which features an external modulated CW seed laser and several stages of amplifiers, can provide pulse energy of 740 mJ with ultra-narrow line width (~17 kHz) and superior stability. The 1,319 nm laser can deliver pulse energy of 580 mJ with a narrow line width of 0.6 GHz. By sum frequency mixing in a LBO crystal, pulse energy of 380 mJ is achieved at 589 nm with a conversion efficiency of 29 %. By controlling the center wavelength of 1,064 nm laser, the target beam’s central wavelength is locked to be 589.1592 nm with a line width of 0.6 GHz, which is dominated mainly by the 1,319 nm laser. The beam quality factor is measured to be M ² = 1.6. The pulse duration is measured to be 140 μs in full-width at half-maximum (FWHM). To the best of our knowledge, this represents the highest pulse energy for all-solid-state sodium beacon laser ever reported.