The state of the art in multicycle THz generation relies on nonlinear optical conversion in commercial periodically-poled lithium niobate crystals. THz pulse energies, however, are limited by the small apertures of available crystals as well as the low damage thresholds connected to photorefractive effects, especially at low temperatures associated with optimum efficiency. We explore three options for increasing the THz pulse energy achievable: increasing the crystal aperture to allow use of higher energy driver lasers; tuning the crystal temperature to look for an optimum; and testing an alternate medium (KTP) to mitigate photorefractive effects and push to higher intensities.
High power OPCPAs above 10 W at short-wave IR wavelengths (SWIR: 1.4 - 3 μm) may be limited because of thermal heat dissipation in the nonlinear crystals. In this work we provide up-to-date measurements of the absorption coefficients of the nonlinear crystals used at these wavelengths and simulations of the thermal effects on critical parameters. In particular, power scaling limits will be discussed.
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