The experimental results of a high-efficiency mid-IR laser are presented on a quasi-phase-matched single-resonated optical parametric oscillator in PPMgO:CLN pumped by a 1064 nm laser of an elliptical beam. The pump source was an acousto-optical Q-switched cw-diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser. The beam polarization matched the e-ee interaction in PPMgO:CLN. When the crystal was operated at 110 degrees C and the pump power was 104 W with a repetition rate of 7 kHz, average output powers of 16.7 W at 3.84 microm and 46 W at 1.47 microm were obtained. The slope efficiency of the 3.84 microm laser with respect to the pump laser was 19.1%. The M(2) factors of the 3.84 mum laser were 2.03 and 5.89 in the parallel and perpendicular directions, respectively.

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We report on a high-power and widely tunable optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on PPMgLN and pumped by a pulsed 1.064 μm MOPA laser. The operating wavelength of the OPA system is continuously tunable from 2.68 to 3.07 μm by adjusting the temperature of PPMgLN crystals, with average output power varying from 74.6 to 66.7 W for 310 W of pump power, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of ∼22.8% at 2.68 μm and ∼20.5% at 3.07 μm, respectively. Output beam quality factor (M²) of the OPA was measured to be <4 over the whole tuning range.

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We report on a high-power, narrow spectral bandwidth 2.907 µm PPMgLN optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a 1.064 µm pulsed Nd:YAG MOPA laser source. Free-running operation of the OPO exhibits maximum average output power of 71.6 W at 2.907 µm with a slope efficiency of 26.7%. Broad 2.907 μm spectral bandwidth of the free-running OPO was suppressed from ~9 nm to less than 0.7 nm by using a VBG as one cavity mirror. The maximum average power was 51.7 W at 2907.55 nm for the spectrum-narrowed OPO, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 22.5%. Continuously tunable ranges of ~8 nm around 2.907 µm had been achieved via adjusting the temperatures of the VBG and PPMgLN accordingly.