High-repetition-rate ultrashort-pulse optical parametric oscillator continuously tunable from 2.8 to 6.8 mum

We describe a synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled LiNbO(3) that is broadly tunable in the mid infrared. A transmission window of periodically poled lithium niobate beyond the conventionally accepted infrared absorption edge of 5.4 mum has been exploited to produce idler pulses that are tunable across a wavelength range of 4 mum , with milliwatt-level output powers at wavelengths as long as 6.8 mum . We also present experimental tuning results that are in good agreement with the theoretical phase matching predicted from published infrared-corrected Sellmeier equations for LiNbO(3) .