Extended-cavity, tunable, GHz-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator pumped at 76 MHz

Abstract

We report the generation of tunable GHz-repetition-rate femtosecond pulses in a synchronously-pumped optical parametric oscillator (SPOPO) with extended cavity length pumped by a 76 MHz Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser. In a SPOPO based on periodically-poled LiNbO3, insertion of a prism pair for dispersion compensation internal to the linear cavity provides stable output pulse trains of up to 14th harmonic of pump repetition-rate (1064 MHz) with 70 mW of average power for 1.45 W of pump. Near-transform-limited pulses down to 216 fs are achieved with wide tunability across 1500-1540 nm by continuous detuning of the SPOPO cavity delay over 8 microm.

Intracavity phase interferometry: frequency combs sensor inside a laser cavity

“…This particular design has provided the best resolution in all attempts made so far. Two independent pulses are created in the OPO cavity, with use of a shorter pump cavity, such that the repetition rates of the pump and OPO cavities have a common multiple . We will discuss here only the case when the length of the OPO cavity is twice that of the pump cavity, as sketched in Fig.…”

Developments of mid-infrared optical parametric oscillators for spectroscopic sensing: a review

“…This high resolution can be used to search for extrasolar planets and to observe in real time the evolution of the cosmological redshift of distant objects, called as astro-comb technique, and OPO offers the freedom of both important parameters: the optical frequency and the repetition rate. [113][114][115] Based on the frequency combs, a coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy system was developed to perform spectroscopic imaging over a broad spectral bandwidth within a few microseconds. 116 OPOs are perfect tools to generate suitable frequency combs for various spectral regions and further to extend its applications.…”

Degenerate 1 GHz repetition rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

“…The width of the comb and the 1 GHz repetition rate significantly exceed those of a typical Er-doped fiber laser, which is the most widely used source for frequency comb generation in the optical telecom region [8,9]. Unlike the previously reported singly resonant high-repetition-rate OPOs [7,[10][11][12], the degenerate OPO presented here enables simple self-phase-locked operation with respect to the pump comb. Future improvements include full stabilization of the OFC, which can be done by locking f rep and f ceo of the undepleted part of the pump comb to an atomic clock [7,13].…”

“…A possible solution is to transfer the high repetition rate of a Ti:sapphire-laser comb from 0.8 μm to a longer wavelength using a synchronously pumped OPO. This approach has previously been proposed and studied based on singly resonant OPOs [7,[10][11][12]. The doubly resonant femtosecond OPO presented here is pumped with a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser that has a repetition rate of 1 GHz.…”