Fiber-laser-pumped continuous-wave singly resonant optical parametric oscillator

Area of Science:

• Nonlinear Optics
• Laser Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are crucial for generating tunable laser light.
• Fiber lasers offer advantages in terms of robustness, compactness, and beam quality for pumping OPOs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the first continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a tunable fiber laser.
• To characterize the performance and tuning capabilities of this novel OPO system.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a singly resonant OPO configuration with a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal in a four-mirror ring cavity.
• Employed a wavelength-tunable Yb-doped fiber laser as the pump source.
• Tuned the OPO output by adjusting the crystal temperature, poling period, and pump laser wavelength.

Main Results:

• Generated 1.9 W of cw idler radiation at 3200 nm using 8.3 W of pump power.
• Achieved signal tuning from 1515 to 1633 nm and idler tuning from 3057 to 3574 nm via crystal parameters.
• Obtained a broad idler tuning range from 2980 to 3700 nm by tuning the fiber laser wavelength from 1032 to 1095 nm.

Conclusions:

• Successfully demonstrated a tunable fiber laser-pumped cw OPO, a significant advancement in tunable coherent light sources.
• The developed OPO system exhibits wide tuning ranges, making it suitable for various spectroscopic and photonic applications.
• This work paves the way for compact and versatile tunable laser systems.