Compact and stable high-repetition-rate terahertz generation based on an efficient coaxially pumped dual-wavelength laser

A compact and stable terahertz (THz) source is demonstrated based on difference frequency generation (DFG) pumped by an efficient dual-wavelength acousto-optic (AO) Q-switched solid-state Nd:YLF laser with composite gain media (a-cut and c-cut) in the coaxial pumping configuration. Optimal power ratio and pulse synchronization of the orthogonal polarized 1047/1053 nm dual-wavelength laser could be realized by varying the pump focusing depth and/or pump wavelength. The total power of 2.92 W was obtained at 5 kHz pumped by 10-W laser-diode power at 803 nm. Such an efficient dual-wavelength laser demonstrated good stability and inconspicuous timing jitter benefiting from the suppressed gain competition between two resonating wavelengths. An 8-mm-long GaSe crystal was employed to generate THz waves at 1.64 THz by DFG and the maximum THz average output power was about 0.93 μW. This compact coaxial pumping method can be extended to all kinds of neodymium (Nd) doped laser crystals to produce different dual-wavelength lasers for various THz wavelength generation, which have good prospects for portable and costless applications like imaging, non-destructive inspection, etc.