SOLID-STATE LASER SYSTEM FOR THE GENERATION OF MIDINFRARED FEMTOSECOND PULSES TUNABLE FROM 3.3-MU-M TO 10-MU-M

A tunable regenerative Ti:sapphire amplifier system working at a 1-kHz repetition rate pumps an optical parametric generator providing near-infrared pulses tunable in the wavelength range from 1 to 2.5 mu m. The signal and idler pulses with a duration below 100 fs are mixed in a AgGaS2 crystal to generate pulses at the difference frequency. The midinfrared output is continuously tunable between 3.3 and 10 mu m, with pulse energies of as high as 50 nJ and durations of 160 fs, as directly determined from cross-correlation measurements.