Efficient low-energy near-infrared KTiOPO(4) optical parametric converter

We report a widely tunable near-infrared holosteric KTiOPO(4) optical parametric converter featuring a low pump energy threshold and high conversion efficiency. The converter uses two 10-mm-long crystals in a simple optical parametric oscillator amplif ier configuration and is tunable from 750 to 1040 nm for the signal. The pump energy threshold at 920 nm is 0.44 mJ for the 532-nm 8-ns 50-Hz input. The system produces as much as 0.45 mJ of energy at 920 nm with an external pump-to-signal energy conversion efficiency of 27% for pump inputs from just two times the threshold value. The internal pump-to-signal and idler energy conversion efficiency is estimated to be 58%. The low pump energy requirement of this system makes it compatible with small laser-diode-pumped solid-state lasers.