LITHIUM TRIBORATE OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR PUMPED AT 266 NM

A new optical parametric oscillator based on the pumping of noncritically phase-matched lithium triborate at 266 nm is reported. Tunable in the UV near 314 nm and in the IR near 1.74-mu-m, pump pulse energies of 0.5 mJ (approximately 10-ns pulses at 266 nm) are sufficient to reach oscillation threshold, and pump depletions of -25% at 3-4 times threshold are obtained.