GENERATION OF HIGH-REPETITION-RATE FEMTOSECOND PULSES TUNABLE IN THE MIDINFRARED

We report on the generation of tunable high-repetition rate femtosecond mid-infrared pulses by parametric amplification in LiNbO3. In this parametric process, the output of a mode-locked Nd:YLF laser is used as seed and a synchronized Ti:sapphire laser serves as pump. By tuning the Ti:sapphire laser between 755 and 830 nm we generate mid-infrared pulses tunable between 2.6 and 4 mum with a pulse duration down to 200 fs and an energy of 10 pJ per pulse. By employing the full tunability range of the Ti:sapphire laser this parametric-amplification process in principle allows the generation of high-repetition rate femtosecond pulses tunable between 2.2 and 9.7 mum.