An optical arrangement for enlarging spectral bandwidths by nonlinear self-phase modulation for shortening ultrashort pulses using a multipass cell and a nonlinear medium. The nonlinear medium is arranged within the multipass cell, and a laser beam having ultrashort pulses passes through the nonlinear medium multiple times. The laser beam is coupled into the multipass cell by way of a shaping optical unit. The laser beam is shaped into an astigmatic beam and coupled into the multipass cell by way of the shaping optical unit.

A device for spectrally broadening a laser pulse is disclosed. The device includes a multipass arrangement having a convex mirror and a concave mirror, the convex mirror and the concave mirror being arranged relative to each other such that a laser pulse coupled into the multipass arrangement is reflected at least once from the concave mirror to the convex mirror and at least once from the convex mirror to the concave mirror. Further, the device includes a nonlinear optical medium arranged at least partially within the multipass arrangement such that the laser pulse coupled into the multipass arrangement passes through the nonlinear optical medium multiple times. The disclosure also relates to a laser system having a device according to the disclosure for spectral broadening of a laser pulse.

A self-seeded optical parametric amplifier (OPA) system includes a cavity mirror, a wavelength conversion unit, and a dichroic filter. The cavity mirror is configured to allow high transmission for an input laser beam and high reflection for a feedback beam. The wavelength conversion unit is configured to convert the input laser beam into a signal laser beam and an idler laser beam. The dichroic filter is configured to allow one of the signal laser beam and the idler laser beam to pass through the dichroic filter and reflect the other one onto a feedback path.

A system for resonantly enhanced frequency conversion includes a nonlinear crystal for frequency converting a pump laser beam, and mirrors forming a ring resonator for the pump laser beam such that a closed propagation path of the pump laser beam, inside the ring resonator, passes through the nonlinear crystal. The mirrors include an adaptive mirror, a curved-mirror pair positioned in a first segment of the propagation path spanning between the adaptive mirror and the nonlinear crystal, and an input coupler for coupling the pump laser beam into the ring resonator. The curved-mirror pair forms an imaging system having conjugate planes at the adaptive mirror and the nonlinear crystal. The input coupler is positioned in a second segment of the propagation path that spans between the adaptive mirror and the nonlinear crystal and does not include deflection by the curved-mirror pair.

An optical element includes Strontium tetraborate SrB.sub.4O.sub.7 (SBO) crystal plates that are cooperatively configured to create a periodic structure for quasi-phase-matching (QPM) is used in the final frequency converting stage of a laser assembly to generate laser output light having a wavelength in the range of 125 nm to 183 nm. One or more fundamental light beams having fundamental wavelengths between 1 and 1.1 μm are doubled and/or summed using multiple intermediate frequency conversion stages to generate one or more intermediate light beam frequencies (e.g., second through eighth harmonics, or sums thereof), and then the final frequency converting stage utilizes the optical element to either double a single intermediate light beam frequency or to sum two intermediate light beam frequencies to generate the desired laser output light at high power and photon energy levels. A method and inspection system incorporating the laser assembly is also described.

An optical element includes Strontium tetraborate SrB.sub.4O.sub.7 (SBO) crystal plates that are cooperatively configured to create a periodic structure for quasi-phase-matching (QPM) is used in the final frequency converting stage of a laser assembly to generate laser output light having a wavelength in the range of 125 nm to 183 nm. One or more fundamental light beams having fundamental wavelengths between 1 and 1.1 μm are doubled and/or summed using multiple intermediate frequency conversion stages to generate one or more intermediate light beam frequencies (e.g., second through eighth harmonics, or sums thereof), and then the final frequency converting stage utilizes the optical element to either double a single intermediate light beam frequency or to sum two intermediate light beam frequencies to generate the desired laser output light at high power and photon energy levels. A method and inspection system incorporating the laser assembly is also described.

A nonlinear crystal including stacked Strontium tetraborate SrB.sub.4O.sub.7 (SBO) crystal plates that are cooperatively configured to create a periodic structure for quasi-phase-matching (QPM) is used in the final frequency converting stage of a laser assembly to generate laser output light having a wavelength in the range of 125 nm to 183 nm. One or more fundamental light beams having fundamental wavelengths between 1 and 1.1 μm are doubled and/or summed using multiple intermediate frequency conversion stages to generate one or more intermediate light beam frequencies (e.g., second through eighth harmonics, or sums thereof), and then the final frequency converting stage utilizes the nonlinear crystal to either double a single intermediate light beam frequency or to sum two intermediate light beam frequencies to generate the desired laser output light at high power and photon energy levels. A method and inspection system incorporating the laser assembly is also described.

A device for generating laser radiation comprises a temperature-controlled optical setup comprising an optically non-linear solid state medium arranged in a resonator and an active region. The outgoing laser radiation is generated from a pump beam introduced into the optically non-linear solid state medium. A first temperature actuator and a second temperature actuator configured to independently adjust temperature values in the active region of the optically non-linear solid state medium. The first temperature actuator is configured regulate a length of the resonator by setting a first temperature value within a first portion of the active region. The second temperature actuator is configured to match phases of wavelengths generated by the outgoing laser radiation and phases of wavelengths of the pump beam radiation by setting a second temperature value within a second portion of the active region.

The present invention relates to a system and method for generating wavelength-tunable laser output pulses using parametric processes, wherein a simultaneous and tuned tuning of the pump pulse wavelength and repetition rate ensures a temporal overlap between pump and seed pulses in a parametric gain medium. Based on this parameter coupling, lasers with a wide tunable wavelength range can be obtained, which can be fully fiber-based and which are also suitable for modern nonlinear microscopy or fluorescence microscopy due to a particularly fast response.

An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) including a thin film waveguide including a material having a second order nonlinear susceptibility generating an electromagnetic field in response to pump electromagnetic field inputted into the thin film waveguide. The electromagnetic field has a first wavelength or first set of wavelengths longer than a second wavelength or second set of wavelengths of the pump electromagnetic field. The thin film waveguide has a thickness on the order of the first wavelength or the first set of wavelengths in the thin film waveguide so as to guide the electromagnetic field along the thin film waveguide.