HIGH-POWER SYNCHRONOUSLY PUMPED AGGAS2 OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR

Greater than 2 W of average power was generated in the infrared region by a AgGaS2 optical parametric oscillator(OPO). A Q-switched mode-loc ked laser was used to pump the OPO synchronously. Tunability from 1.4 to 1.9 mu m and a maximum output power of 750 mW at 1.44 mu m were ach ieved with a standing-wave cavity. Redesigning the cavity into a ring configuration allowed the depleted pump, signal, and idler beams to be extracted efficiently through separate mirrors. This design generated signal and idler beams of high spatial quality at respective power le vels of 1.5 and 620 mW at a pulse repetition rate of 2 kHz.