A compact efficient deep ultraviolet laser at 266 nm

We present a highly efficient and cost-effective watt-level deep-ultraviolet laser operating at 266 nm. Type-I phase-matching LBO crystals and type-I phase-matching BBO crystals were used for frequency doubling and fourth-harmonic generation, respectively. The highest 1.82 W average power of the 266 nm laser was obtained from nonlinear frequency conversion at a repetition rate of 30 kHz and a pump power of 18.8 W. The conversion efficiency from the diode to the deep-ultraviolet laser scales up to 10.7%. This is, to our knowledge, the highest efficiency ever reported generated from a laser diode single-end-pumped acousto-optic Q-switched system.