High-power single-spatial-mode near-IR laser diodes are mixed in periodically poled LiNbO₃ (PPLN) to generate broadly tunable mid IR-radiation. Conversion efficiencies to the mid IR up to 0.017%/W are demonstrated, and up to 31 µW of power is generated at the spectroscopically important 4.3-µm wavelength. We achieved broadband mid-IR tunability by mixing a wavelength-tunable laser-diode pump source with a fixed-wavelength master oscillator power amplifier laser-diode signal source in a PPLN sample that has a poling period that varies from 21.0 to 22.6 µm in the direction transverse to the beam propagation. We generated mid-IR radiation from 4.1 to 4.3 µm with these laser sources, using a fixed 22.0-µm period region of the sample.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

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