Abstract
High-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillators (OPOs)1 are becoming increasingly important sources for time-resolved spectroscopy in many areas of science. Such systems can provide high average powers (hundreds of milliwatts) and high repetition rates (100 MHz) with pulse durations <100 fs and broad tunability (1-3 μm). To date, systems based on materials such as KTP, LBO, and BBO have been popular, and each of these has its own relative advantages and disadvantages. For example, KTP works very well in the 1-3-μm region but is not suitable for longer wavelengths because of its limited transparency. Potassium niobate (KNbO3) is a particularly attractive material for nonlinear frequency conversion in the near-infrared because of its large nonlinear coefficients (d32 = −18.3 pm/V and d31 = −15.8 pm/V), high damage threshold (100 GW/cm2), and broad transmission range (0.39-5.5 μm).
© 1995 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
P. E. Powers, W. S. Pelouch, S. Ramakrishna, C. L. Tang, and K. L. Cheng
CThK2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1993
W. S. Pelouch, P. E. Powers, and C. L. Tang
CPD14 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1992
Walter R. Bosenberg, Alexander Drobshoff, and Lawrence E. Myers
QM1 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 1996