High-Harmonic-Repetition-Rate, Extended-Cavity, 1-GHz Tunable Femtosecond Optical Parametric Oscillator

Abstract

This work is devoted to the experimental demonstration of a novel concept for the generation of femtosecond pulses at the harmonics of the pump repetition rate in a synchronously-pumped optical parametric oscillator (SPOPO) with a cavity length longer than the pump cavity length. Near-transform-limited femtosecond pulses at the 14th harmonic of a 76 MHz Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:sapphire pump laser, corresponding to 1-GHz repetition-rate, and tunable in the telecommunication wavelength region, are generated in a SPOPO based on a 1-mm-thick periodically-poled LiNbO3 (PPLN). A pair of SF11 prisms internal to the SPOPO cavity is used for the dispersion compensation