High power continuous wave blue light generation in KNbO3 using semiconductor amplifier seeded by a laser diode

Abstract
Diffraction limited emission of a GaAlAs tapered amplifier seeded by a laser diode is frequency doubled in a 12.4‐mm‐long KNbO3 crystal to generate 62 mW of 429 nm continuous wave emission, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 1.1%/W cm. Reductions in the conversion efficiency due to nonuniform temperature distribution caused by blue‐enhanced infrared absorption were characterized.