20-50-fs pulses tunable across the near infrared from a blue-pumped noncollinear parametric amplifier

A two-stage blue-pumped noncollinearly phase matched optical parametric amplifier was used to generate near-infrared pulses that were continuously tunable from 865 to 1600 nm. The pulse lengths scaled from 20 fs at the shorter wavelengths to below 50 fs at 1600 nm, with a nearly Fourier-transform-limited bandwidth. From 200 muJ of 775-nm pump light at a 1-kHz repetition rate and a 130-fs duration, 7-2.5-muJ pulse energies were generated, corresponding to a typical quantum efficiency of 25% from blue to near-infrared light.