1064 nm laser intracavity pumped at 912 nm and sum-frequency mixing for an emission at 491 nm
Oxxius compact blue laser sources today
This 2008 Optics Letters paper demonstrates a 491 nm blue laser source based on sum-frequency mixing of 912 nm and 1064 nm beams inside a BiBO crystal — delivering 155 mW of CW output from a single 808 nm pump diode emitting 20 W. The intracavity pumping scheme, in which a Nd:GdVO₄ laser at 912 nm drives a Nd:YVO₄ laser at 1064 nm within the same cavity, enables efficient nonlinear frequency conversion without the complexity of a separate pump laser.
The 491 nm wavelength sits between the standard 488 nm argon line and the 492–495 nm absorption bands of several fluorescent probes, making this architecture relevant for fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry applications where spectral precision matters. This work contributed to Oxxius’s broader expertise in intracavity sum-frequency generation and compact visible laser design — capabilities that underpin the current CW & Modulated Laser product line covering the full visible spectrum.
Abstract
We present for the first time a Nd:YVO(4) laser emitting at 1064 nm intracavity pumped at 912 nm by a Nd:GdVO(4) laser. We carried out a model to design the system properly, and laser performance was experimentally investigated. Intracavity sum-frequency mixing at 912 and 1064 nm was then realized in a BiBO crystal to reach the blue range. We obtained a cw output power of 155 mW at 491 nm with a pump laser diode emitting 20 W at 808 nm.