Abstract

Laser sources with narrow bandwidth, high pulse energy, broad tunability, and diffraction-limited spatial quality are highly desirable for many applications such as long range laser radar, linear and nonlinear spectroscopy, and pump-probe experiments. Recent advances in solid state laser material and nonlinear optical material have made it possible to develop tunable sources that match many of these characteristics in a single package. I shall report the development of a system that combines the broad and rapid tuning of an optical parametric oscillator and the high spatial quality of a ring Ti:sapphire laser to produce narrowband pulses in the near-ir. The features of this system that distinguishes it from other existing systems are its low timing jitter of <1 nsec which makes possible the synchronization of the system with other nsec sources and the high efficiencies obtained in conversion of the primary source to new wavelengths. This is possible because the pulses are near-diffraction-limited and reach intensities of 500 MW/cm² to 1 GW/cm² without focusing. Efficient (over 50%) frequency conversion to the uv and mid-ir region using parametric processes in nonlinear crystals completes the package to provide tunable photons that span the spectral region from the uv near 200 nm to the ir at 5 μm.

© 1995 IEEE