Abstract

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelength range is utilized in applications such as gas sensing, medicine, defence, and material processing. When using picosecond pulses high peak power is reached at moderate pulse energy and the heat affected zone is low. A wavelength tunable mid-IR source would enable optimization of the laser-matter interaction in dependence on wavelength. Increase in processing speed requires sources of higher average power. Parametric devices offer both broad wavelength tunability and power scalability [1]. We are developing a ten watt level wavelength tunable picosecond mid-IR source based on an optical parametric generator (OPG) followed by an optical parametric amplifier (OPA).

© 2017 IEEE