Broadly tunable ultraviolet light generation in a compact MgO-doped periodically-poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate optical parametric oscillator with a high-Q cavity.

A compact tunable UV laser source based on intracavity sum frequency generation in a MgO-doped periodically-poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate optical parametric oscillator is reported. UV output at an approximately 1 mW level of power over the range of 364 to 378 nm with a bandwidth of 0.5 nm was obtained with a crystal that has just one periodically-poled grating period. The full tuning range can be as much as approximately 68 nm, from 324 to 392 nm by varying the crystal temperature from room temperature to 250 degrees C. This will cover nearly the entire UVA range.