Abstract

We report a generation of tunable mid-infrared (MIR) pulses by optical parametric amplification (OPA) using a picosecond Ti:sapphire laser as the pumping source and a synchronous nanosecond optical parametric oscillator as the seeding source. The Ti:sapphire laser was regeneratively amplified to produce 2,0-ps pulses with a pulse energy of 950 μJ. The wavelength was. fixed at 778 nm. The seeding source was an optical parametric oscillator (Spectral-Physics MOPO-730), which nominally delivered 4-ns 5-80 mJ pulses tunable in the 0.42-2.0-μm range.

© 1996 Optical Society of America