POWERFUL SUB-100-FS PULSES BROADLY TUNABLE IN THE VISIBLE FROM A BLUE-PUMPED PARAMETRIC GENERATOR AND AMPLIFIER

By combining a low-gain single-pass colinear amplifier with a high-gai n noncollinear seeder, in which the group velocities are self-matched, we demonstrate highly efficient parametric conversion of frequency-do ubled Ti:sapphire pulses of hundreds-microjoule energy. With beta-bari um berate in both seeder and amplifier, bandwidth-limited signal pulse s tunable between 0.46 and 0.66 mu m are obtained at a 1-kHz-repetitio n rate,with duration as short as 78 fs and energy as much as 17 mu J i n the visible. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.