Efficient 1 kHz femtosecond optical parametric amplification in BiB(3)O(6) pumped at 800 nm

We demonstrate efficient operation of a tunable femtosecond optical parametric amplifier based on BiB(3)O(6) pumped at 800 nm by a 1 kHz Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. The idler wavelength coverage extends to beyond 3 mum and the pulse duration at this wavelength is of the order of 110 fs. This new nonlinear borate crystal offers exceptionally high nonlinearity, making it a very promising candidate for power scaling of such frequency converters in the near-IR.