Bonn 2000 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik

Q 9: Erzeugung ultrakurzer Pulse

Q 9.6: Talk

Tuesday, April 4, 2000, 15:45–16:00, HS XIII

Picosecond Optical Parametric Oscillator sychronously pumped directly by a diode laser oscillator amplifier system with a repetition rate of 2.5 GHz — •A. Robertson, M. E. Klein, M. A. Tremont, K.-J. Boller, and R. Wallenstein — Fachbereich Physik, Universität Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. 46, D-67663 Kaiserslautern

In recent years, optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) have been successfully implemented as convenient sources of tunable coherent radiation in the ultra-short pulse regime. To date, synchronously pumped OPOs have been exclusively operated at relatively low (MHz) repetition rates, with all-solid-state lasers as the preferred source of excitation. Ultra-high repetition rates in the GHz-regime would not only have the advantage of a scaling down of the overall system size, but also would make OPO sources interesting for other applications.

We present what is believed to be the first OPO which is synchronously pumped directly by a diode laser. This is an actively mode-locked diode laser master-oscillator power-amplifier (MOPA) system operating at 927nm with a repetition rate of 2.5 GHz. The OPO is based on periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) in a singly (signal) resonant ring cavity. It produces sub-ten picosecond pulses at the same ultra-high repetition rate. The OPO is tunable in the ranges of 1531-1737nm (signal) and 1986-2350nm (idler) and the maximum average idler power is 78 mW.