High－Power Blue Light Generation by External Frequency Doubling of an Optical Parametric Oscillator ＊

We report on an all-solid-state high-power quasi-continuous blue light source by the frequency doubling of asignal wave from an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). A 50-mm-long LiB305 (LBO) crystal is used for theOPO, which is pumped by a diode-pumped Nd:YAG green laser (1OkHz, 50ns). Tunable blue emission in a newnonlinear crystal BiB306 (BiBO) is obtained with a wavelength range from 450 to 495 nm. The average power ofthe signal output is as high as 9.3 W from 924 to 970nm. The maximum output of the blue laser with the secondharmonic walk-off compensation is 1.3W average power at 470nm for 6.2W of OPO signal light at 940nm.