Abstract

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are powerful, reliable light sources for the generation of tunable light pulses in the spectral range from the visible to the near infrared. In particular, cw mode-locked systems that are synchronously pumped by a mode-locked pump source can produce in this spectral range tunable pico­second and sub-picosecond pulses at high repetition rates. For many applications, however, the broad bandwidth connected with picosecond and sub-pi­cosecond pulses does not provide sufficient spectral resolution.¹ For this reason pulse lengths of 15 to 20 ps should be a good compromise between short pulse duration and a spectral resolution of at least 1 cm⁻¹.

© 1994 IEEE