title: High-power, Yb-fiber-laser-pumped, picosecond parametric source tunable across 752-860 nm.
abstract: We report a stable, high-power source of picosecond pulses in the near-infrared based on intracavity second harmonic generation (SHG) of a MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped at 81 MHz by a mode-locked Yb-fiber laser. By exploiting the large spectral acceptance bandwidth for Type I (oo→e) SHG in β-BaB2O4 and a 5 mm crystal, we have generated picosecond pulses over 752-860 nm spectral range under minimal angle tuning, with as much as 3.5 W of output power at 778 nm and >2  W over 73% of the tuning range, in good beam quality with TEM00 spatial profile and M2<1.4. The SHG output pulses have durations of 15.2 ps, with a spectral bandwidth of ∼3.4  nm at 784 nm. In addition, the oscillator simultaneously provides a signal power of >1  W over 1505-1721 nm (25 THz) and idler power >1.8  W over 2787-3630 nm (25 THz), corresponding to a total (signal plus idler) tuning range of 1059 nm. The SHG, signal, and idler output exhibit passive long-term power stability better than 1.6%, 1.3%, and 1.6% rms, respectively, over 14 h.
authors.affiliation: ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Mediterranean Technology Park, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. chaitanya.suddapalli@icfo.es
authors.forename: S Chaitanya
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kimmelma
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebrahim-Zadeh
mesh_terms: D007368:Interferometry; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State; D013997:Time Factors; D015018:Ytterbium
chemical_list: D015018:Ytterbium