Abstract

Ti:sapphire lasers are frequently used to pump KTP-family-based OPOs in order to generate mid-IR radiation. Because of the high peak power required for efficient operation, most of the experiments involve either ultrafast,^1-3 or high-energy lasers. In this work, we describe a high-repetition-rate (10 kHz), all-solid-state, RTA-based OPO pumped by relatively low energy (0.16 ml), long (over 20 ns), Ti:sapphire pulses. The RTA crystals are non-critically phase-matched and the tuning (over a range of 500-nm) is achieved by simply changing the pump wavelength; this permits construction of a rapidly tunable mid-IR source.

© 1999 Optical Society of America