We report on power, tuning, and temporal characteristics of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPSLT) crystal and pumped by a high-power mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. Focus is given to the OPO operating range spanning from 900 to $1350\mathrm{nm}$ , which is important in nonlinear optical microscopy and spectroscopy. Generation of peak powers beyond the $10\mathrm{kW}$ level is strongly affected by the onset of intracavity power-dependent loss, which is due to the high ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity of the gain material. The crystal withstands combined power densities higher than $60\mathrm{GW}/{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ for $\sim 100\mathrm{fs}$ optical pulses before breakdown occurs. A resonator design that mitigates self- and cross-beam focusing effects delivers $\sim 40\mathrm{kW}$ peak power for $85–160\mathrm{fs}$ pulses. The high parametric gain of the PPSLT allows OPO operation at the twelfth harmonic of the pump laser repetition rate ( $\sim 0.91\mathrm{GHz}$ ). Stable operation with the possibility of broad wavelength tuning is demonstrated without active cavity length stabilization at a repetition rate of $\sim 530\mathrm{MHz}$ and average powers above $150\mathrm{mW}$ . In addition, up to $50\mathrm{mW}$ of power at $\sim 530\mathrm{nm}$ is output as a result of SHG of the $1060\mathrm{nm}$ signal beam resulting from third-order quasi phase matching.

© 2011 Optical Society of America

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