Incident IR Bandwidth Effects on Efficiency and Shaping for Third Harmonic Generation of Quasi-Rectangular UV Longitudinal Profiles
The photocathode of the proposed LCLS RF Photoinjector will be irradiated by uv laser light which is generated as the third harmonic of incident fundamental ir laser light. We have investigated quantitatively the effect of input ir spectral bandwidth on the exiting longitudinal intensity profiles, energy conversion efficiencies and spectral bandwidths that characterize the third harmonic generation (THG) process with a pair of crystals. These profiles, efficiencies and bandwidths include the residual fundamental and residual second harmonic light exiting the second crystal. The intrinsic acceptance bandwidth for THG is determined by crystal material and thickness as well as the type of phase matching that is used. For our case of BBO material with type I phase matching these bandwidths are approximately 0.9 nm*cm and 0.1 nm*cm for second and third harmonic generation respectively. Consequently for fixed crystal thicknesses and a fixed input ir longitudinal profile, the specified input ir bandwidth will determine the profiles, efficiencies and bandwidths exiting the second crystal. The results reported here are predictions of the SNLO code that is available as 'freeware' from the Sandia National Laboratories. It has been modified for this work. It is critical to note that this modification has enabled us to generate SNLO predictions of the 'coupled' case in which the output of the first crystal is used as input to the second crystal. Our focus is the dependence of uv longitudinal intensity profile and THG efficiency on the input ir bandwidth and crystal thicknesses. We include here cases that best illustrate input bandwidth effects. The criteria for selection of reported cases are highest efficiency generation of quasi-rectangular uv profiles with proportional intensity ripple less than 5% rms on the plateau of the pulse. Maximizing THG efficiency typically amounts to maximizing the crystal thicknesses with the longitudinal profile constraint. The specified incident ir longitudinal profile is quasi-rectangular (i.e. nonzero risetime and falltime with small intensity variation on the plateau) with a 10 psec pulse duration (FWHM). By assumption, this profile has been established upstream of the crystals at the fundamental ir wavelength. The simplest possible optical configuration is used in this work as shown in figure 1. The first crystal is the site of second harmonic generation (SHG) driven by the incident ir irradiation of central wavelength, 800nm. Downstream of the first crystal, the second crystal is the site of third harmonic generation (THG) which occurs by sum frequency mixing. Inter-crystal optics (such as a half waveplate) are assumed to be lossless at the fundamental and second harmonic wavelengths. As shown in figure 1, a portion of the incident ir irradiation is not sequestered from the first crystal for subsequent THG in the second crystal. Also, quasi-phase matching configurations and other complex compensation schemes have not been investigated at this point. The simplistic geometry better elucidates the intrinsic acceptance bandwidth limitations imposed by the crystals. Our goal in this endeavor has been to conduct a quantitative assessment of incident ir bandwidth effects on the THG process for BBO material of varied thicknesses and not, at this stage, to comply with all uv pulse specifications for the LCLS RF Photoinjector. Nonetheless, our results can be compared with LCLS photoinjector uv pulse requirements which call for a nominal 10 psec FWHM with 1 psec risetime and falltime and a nominally flat plateau (allowing for slope adjustments) with no more than a 5% rms proportional intensity variation. Furthermore, the results of this work can be used to suggest crystal thicknesses that would likely comply with all uv pulse requirements given the appropriate longitudinal profile and bandwidth for an input ir pulse.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 1000328
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-TN-10-071; TRN: US1100090
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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