High-energy, near- and mid-IR picosecond pulses generated by a fiber-MOPA-pumped optical parametric generator and amplifier

摘要

We report a high-energy picosecond optical parametric generator/amplifier (OPG/A) based on a MgO:PPLN crystal pumped by a fiber master-oscillator-power-amplifier (MOPA) employing direct amplification. An OPG tuning range of 1450-3615nm is demonstrated with pulse energies as high as 2.6µJ (signal) and 1.2µJ (idler). When seeded with a ~100 MHz linewidth diode laser, damage-limited pulse energies of 3.1µJ (signal) and 1.3µJ (idler) have been achieved and the signal pulse time-bandwidth product is improved to ~2 times transform-limited. When seeded with a 0.3nm-bandwidth filtered amplified spontaneous emission source, crystal damage is avoided and maximum pulse energies of 3.8µJ (signal) and 1.7µJ (idler) are obtained at an overall conversion efficiency of 45%.