Broadly tunable, all-solid-state, visible and infrared picosecond optical parametric oscillator

An all-solid-state optical parametric oscillator based on temperature-tuned LiB3O5 and synchronously pumped at 523.5 nm by a frequency-doubled, FM mode-locked, Q-switched, diode-laser-pumped Nd:YLF laser is described. The singly resonant oscillator is continuously tunable throughout 0.652–2.65 μm and can provide average output powers of as much as 3 mW in pulses of 12-ps duration, at a Q-switched repetition rate of 500 Hz. Four-color parametric oscillation has been obtained over the ranges of 664–890 nm and 2.47−1.27 μm, and linewidth reduction down to 0.5 nm is demonstrated over a signal wavelength range of 652–987 nm.