Dielectric-mirror-less femtosecond optical parametric oscillator with ultrabroad-band tunability

We demonstrate a high average power, widely tunable, dielectric-mirror-less optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on MgO:PPLN (MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate), which is synchronously pumped by a 1040 nm femtosecond fiber laser. The OPO does not require any dielectric coating mirrors. By exploiting the four-prism sequence system, combined with the gold mirrors, the oscillating laser pulses could span the spectral regions in both the signal and idler, and the output pulses of OPO can be tuned across 1367–1914 nm in the signal, and 2152–4480 nm in the idler as well. This device can deliver as much as 1.2 W of average power at 1482 nm in the signal and up to 411 mW at 3487 nm in the idler, respectively. The ultrabroad-band spectra tunability, along with the high average output property, makes the dielectric-mirror-less OPO an attractive alternative to conventional OPOs.