title: Narrow-bandwidth picosecond pulses by spectral compression of femtosecond pulses in second-order nonlinear crystals.
abstract: We introduce a simple approach for the efficient generation of tunable narrow-bandwidth picosecond pulses synchronized to broadband femtosecond ones. Second harmonic generation in the presence of large group velocity mismatch between the interacting pulses transfers a large fraction of the energy of a broadband fundamental frequency pulse into a narrowband second harmonic one. Using a periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate crystal coupled to an infrared optical parametric amplifier, we generated 200-nJ pulses with spectral width lower than 8.5 cm(-1) and tunability from 720 to 890 nm. Energy scaling and extension of the tuning range are straightforward.
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Marangoni
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Brida
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Quintavalle
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Cirmi
authors: F M
authors: FM
authors: Pigozzo
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Manzoni
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Baronio
authors: A D
authors: AD
authors: Capobianco
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Cerullo