Abstract

Optical parametric oscillators (OPO) have established themselves as efficient, reliable, solid-state sources of tunable radiation that can operate in many regions of the spectrum where no viable laser sources exist. One such region, 3-5 µm, is particularly interesting for many spectroscopic and remote sensing applications. Using other established nonlinear optical materials such as BBO, KIP, LBO, lithium niobate, AgGaS₂, AgGaSe₂, and ZnGeP₂ to obtain light in this spectral region has proved impractical because of their lack of transmission and/or their low optical damage thresholds.

© 1993 Optical Society of America