Advances in ultrafast optical parametric oscillators

Synchronously-pumped ultrafast optical parametric oscillators are a generic technology capable of providing broadly-tunable high-repetition-rate ultrafast pulses across the visible and the infrared. Recent research in the authors' group and elsewhere has extended the performance of ultrafast optical parametric oscillators in terms of their pulse-energy, phase-stability and other parameters such as their tunability. This article reviews the current status of ultrafast optical parametric oscillators, concentrating particularly on recent advances in energy scaling and carrier-envelope-phase stabilization techniques.