KILOHERTZ ALL-SOLID-STATE PICOSECOND LITHIUM TRIBORATE OPTICAL PARAMETRIC GENERATOR

An all-solid-state picosecond optical parametric generation system that uses a single-pass noncritically phase-matched lithium triborate crystal is demonstrated. We have achieved > 20% total conversion from lambda = 532 nm (pump) to lambda = 800 nm (signal) and 1.6 mum (idler) with a pulse width of approximately 15 ps and average power of 200 mW at a repetition rate of 3 kHz (approximately 50 muJ/signal pulse). Frequency tuning from <750 nm to >1.8 mum is achieved by temperature tuning of the lithium triborate.