Secondary Raman and Brillouin mode suppression in two- and three-mirror-cavity diamond Raman lasers

Abstract

We report an investigation into secondary mode suppression in single longitudinal mode (SLM) 1240 nm diamond Raman lasers. For a three-mirror V-shape standing-wave cavity incorporating an intra-cavity LBO crystal to suppress secondary modes, we achieved stable SLM output with a maximum output power of 11.7 W and a slope efficiency 34.9%. We quantify the level of χ(2) coupling necessary to suppress secondary modes including those generated by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). It is found that SBS-generated modes often coincide with higher-order spatial modes in the beam profile and can be suppressed using an intracavity aperture. Using numerical calculations, it is shown that the probability for such higher-order spatial modes is higher for an apertureless V-cavity than in two-mirror cavities due its contrasting longitudinal mode-structure.