Abstract

A synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO) employing periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) efficiently generates diffraction-limited short pulses that are tunable in the 1.45–1.56-µm spectral range, with their duration adjustable from ≈1 ps–15 ps and output power as high as 630 mW. The pump laser that produces these unique OPO characteristics is a 200-MHz, 2.5-W average power, diode-pumped $\mathrm{Nd}:{\mathrm{YVO}}_4$ laser emitting at 1064 nm and passively mode locked by a nonlinear mirror (NLM) technique. One can select the output pulse width from the vanadate laser to be either 16 or 6 ps simply by choosing the appropriate NLM configuration. Significantly enhanced performance of the mode-locked $\mathrm{Nd}:{\mathrm{YVO}}_4$ laser was obtained with a critically phase-matched type I ${\mathrm{LiB}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_5$ crystal. A comparison of this crystal with type II ${\mathrm{KTiOPO}}_4$ is reported.

© 2001 Optical Society of America

All-solid-state picosecond tunable source of near-infrared radiation

A. Agnesi, E. Piccinini, G. C. Reali, and C. Solcia
Opt. Lett. 22(18) 1415-1417 (1997)

Nonlinear mirror mode-locking of efficiently diode-pumped pulsed neodymium lasers

Antonio Agnesi, Stefano Dell’Acqua, and Giancarlo Reali
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 16(8) 1236-1242 (1999)

Synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators in the 1.5-µm spectral region with a repetition rate of 10 GHz

S. Lecomte, R. Paschotta, M. Golling, D. Ebling, and U. Keller
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 21(4) 844-850 (2004)

High-power, broadly tunable all-solid-state synchronously pumped lithium triborate optical parametric oscillator

S. D. Butterworth, S. Girard, and D. C. Hanna
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 12(11) 2158-2167 (1995)

High-power diode-pumped picosecond Nd³⁺:YVO₄ laser

A. Agnesi, C. Pennacchio, G. C. Reali, and V. Kubecek
Opt. Lett. 22(21) 1645-1647 (1997)