Abstract

Since their first realization in 1995 [1], diode pumped optical parametric oscillators have seen a significant progress. An obvious advantage of diode pumping vs solid state laser pumping is the compact design and high electrical efficiency of diode lasers. However, the major advantage comes from the unique properties of diode laser: they are available across wide wavelength ranges and continuous-wave (CW) single-frequency operation with high stability is easy to achieve with external grating feedback; wide, continuously (mode-hop-free) wavelength tuning is possible with a suitable feedback design. Ultrashort pulses can be generated when the diode is driven with a RF pump current Finally, single-pass diode amplifiers can be used to bring the output of CW and pulsed diode oscillators to multi-Watt average powers. Today, all of these properties can be directly translated into corresponding properties of OPOs, because high-quality crystals for quasi-phasematching with a large nonlinear coefficient are available, such as periodically poled LiNbO₃ (PPLN). In this contribution we give an overview on selected examples of diode pumped OPOs.

© 2000 IEEE