We report on a nested-cavity, doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator (NesCOPO) architecture for widely tunable, mid-IR, single-frequency generation. By use of an achromatic phase-adapted double-pass pumping scheme, this new, low-threshold, semimonolithic architecture only requires two free-standing cavity mirrors and a nonlinear crystal with a mirror coating deposited on its input facet while the other facet is antireflection coated. It is thus as simple and compact as any basic linear optical parametric oscillator cavity, is easily tunable, and displays low sensitivity to mechanical vibrations. Using a high-repetition-rate (4.8 kHz) microlaser as the pump source of the NesCOPO, we demonstrate a compact source that provides pulsed, stable single-frequency output over a wide spectral range (3.8-4.3 μm) with a high peak power (up to 50 W), which are properties well suited for practical gas sensing applications.

We present novel frequency tuning methods for broadband mid-infrared spectroscopy that take advantage of the unique frequency sampling properties of our recently developed "nested dual-cavity doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator" (NesCOPO). These methods, referred to as Vernier frequency sampling, enable mode-hop tuning with an adjustable virtual-cavity intermode spacing. Both frequency resolution and span are widely adjustable and can be tailored to fulfill the requirements either for broadband spectroscopy (>50 cm −1 spectral coverage) at low resolution or for high resolution (<0.01 cm −1 ) narrow band spectroscopy. The technique is applied to short-range (10 to 30 m) atmospheric CO 2 measurements at 4.2 μm using integrated path differential absorption LIDAR.

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