Abstract
We have developed a TEA CO2 laser MOPA system designed to improve beam quality required for high power harmonic generation. The CO2 laser output of the master oscillator optimized to produce a short-spike and suppressed-tail was 4-pass amplified to generate a high peak power of the order of 10 MW under single-transverse-mode oscillation at a repetition rate of 60Hz. By using this laser as a pumping source and by using AgGaSe2 crystals as a frequency converter, the SHG output at 5.3μm with an average power of 3.90 W and the THG output at 3.53μm with that of 2.18 W were demonstrated; these powers are, to our knowledge, the highest ever reported.
