Near-infrared cavity-dumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

Abstract

We demonstrate a high-energy near-infrared cavity-dumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled lithium niobate. The laser generates 90 nJ pulses at a repetition rate of up to 1 MHz when synchronously pumped by 800 mW output from a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. The laser is broadly tunable from 1.0 to 1.5 mu m in the signal branch, with a pulse duration of < 60 fs at 1.2 mu m. High intracavity power is achieved by running the laser in the regime of positive group-velocity dispersion. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.