Method, system and apparatus for automatically determining operating conditions of a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal in a laser system

A system comprising:

• a laser;
• a periodic poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal configured to receive laser input from the laser;
• a temperature control device configured to adjust the temperature of the PPLN crystal;
• a temperature sensor configured to monitor the temperature of the PPLN crystal;
• and, a computing device configured to:
• while the PPLN crystal is receiving laser input from the laser, change, using the temperature control device, a temperature of the PPLN crystal;
• monitor the temperature of the PPLN crystal and corresponding power of the temperature control device during changing of the temperature, the temperature of the PPLN crystal monitored using the temperature sensor;
• and,
• determine one or more of operating conditions of the temperature control device and an operating temperature of the PPLN crystal from a function of the power vs. the temperature, the function comprising a slope corrected function of the power vs. the temperature, a constant trend for heating the PPLN crystal one or more of separated and subtracted from the power vs. the temperature.

A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a non-transitory computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method comprising:

• in a system comprising:
• a laser;
• a periodic poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal configured to receive laser input from the laser;
• a temperature control device configured to adjust the temperature of the PPLN crystal;
• a temperature sensor configured to monitor the temperature of the PPLN crystal:
• while the PPLN crystal is receiving laser input from the laser, changing, using the temperature control device, a temperature of the PPLN crystal;
• monitoring the temperature of the PPLN crystal and corresponding power of the temperature control device during the changing, the temperature of the PPLN crystal monitored using the temperature sensor;
• and,
• determining one or more of operating conditions of the temperature control device and an operating temperature of the PPLN crystal from a slope of a function of the power vs. the temperature, the function comprising a slope corrected function of the power vs. the temperature, a constant trend for heating the PPLN crystal one or more of separated and subtracted from the power vs. the temperature.