A Highly Stable Monolithic Enhancement Cavity For Second Harmonic Generation In The Ultraviolet

We present a highly stable bow-tie power enhancement cavity for critical second harmonic generation (SHG) into the UV using a Brewster-cut beta-BaB2O4 (BBO) nonlinear crystal. The cavity geometry is suitable for all UV wavelengths reachable with BBO and can be modified to accommodate antireflection coated crystals, extending its applicability to the entire wavelength range accessible with non-linear frequency conversion. The cavity is length-stabilized using a fast general purpose digital PI controller based on the open source STEMlab 125-14 (formerly Red Pitaya) system acting on a mirror mounted on a fast piezo actuator. We observe 130 h uninterrupted operation without decay in output power at 313 nm. The robustness of the system has been confirmed by exposing it to accelerations of up to 1 g with less than 10% in-lock output power variations. Furthermore, the cavity can withstand 30 min of acceleration exposure at a level of 3 g(rms) without substantial change in the SHG output power, demonstrating that the design is suitable for transportable setups. (c) 2018 Author(s).