BROADLY TUNABLE INFRARED FEMTOSECOND OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR BASED ON PERIODICALLY POLED RBTIOASO4

We present results from what we believe is the first reported example of an optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled RbTiOA sO4. The oscillator is pumped by a femtosecond self-mode-locked Ti:sap phire laser and, with a single-grating a-mm-long crystal and one mirro r set, a combination of pump and cavity-length tuning provided wavelen gth coverage from 1060 to 1225 nm (signal) and 2.67 to 4.5 mu m (idler ). Average output powers were as much as 120 mW in the signal and 105 mW in the idler and interferometric autocorrelations recorded at signa l and idler wavelengths of 1.1 and 3.26 mu m, respectively, imply puls e durations of 125 and 115 fs, respectively. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.