Abstract

The traveling wave optical parametric generator (OPG) has been established now as a suitable tool for the generation of powerful tunable femtosecond pulses in the near infrared.¹ All femtosecond OPGs reported so far have been pumped by amplified, colliding pulse mode-locked dye lasers operating at ≈10-Hz repetition rates and generated pulses comparable in duration with the pump pulse (of the order of 150 fs). They are characterized, however, by poor pulse-to-pulse reproducibility and bandwidths exceeding the Fourier limit, which reduces their applicability in time-resolved spectroscopy. The availability of commercial femtosecond Ti:sapphire amplifier systems operating at high repetition rates (1–10 kHz) offers the unique possibility of pumping an OPG with highly reproducible femtosecond pulses.

© 1994 IEEE