We report a stable, high-power source of picosecond pulses in the near-infrared based on intracavity second harmonic generation (SHG) of a MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped at 81 MHz by a mode-locked Yb-fiber laser. By exploiting the large spectral acceptance bandwidth for Type I ($oo\to e$) SHG in $\beta \text{-}{\mathrm{BaB}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_4$ and a 5 mm crystal, we have generated picosecond pulses over 752–860 nm spectral range under minimal angle tuning, with as much as 3.5 W of output power at 778 nm and $>2\mathrm{W}$ over 73% of the tuning range, in good beam quality with ${\mathrm{TEM}}_{00}$ spatial profile and $M^2<1.4$. The SHG output pulses have durations of 15.2 ps, with a spectral bandwidth of $\sim 3.4\mathrm{nm}$ at 784 nm. In addition, the oscillator simultaneously provides a signal power of $>1\mathrm{W}$ over 1505–1721 nm (25 THz) and idler power $>1.8\mathrm{W}$ over 2787–3630 nm (25 THz), corresponding to a total (signal plus idler) tuning range of 1059 nm. The SHG, signal, and idler output exhibit passive long-term power stability better than 1.6%, 1.3%, and 1.6% rms, respectively, over 14 h.

© 2012 Optical Society of America

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