Picosecond optical parametric oscillator pumped by temporally compressed pulses from a Q-switched, mode-locked,...

Using, for the first time to our knowledge, the frequency-doubled temporally compressed pulses from a cw-pumped, Q-switched, mode-locked Nd:YAG laser to pump a parametric oscillator based on temperature-tuned barium sodium niobate, we generated resolution-limited pulses of 3.5 psec, tunable from 0.95 to 1.2 microm, with an energy efficiency of up to 13% at Q-switched rates of up to 3 kHz.