Article,

High-power femtosecond mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator at 7 µm based on CdSiP2

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Opt. Lett., 40 (7): 1398--1401 (April 2015)
DOI: 10.1364/OL.40.001398

Abstract

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) for the mid-infrared (mid-IR), generating a record average power of 110 mW at 7 µm. The OPO, based on CdSiP2 (CSP) as the nonlinear crystal, provides idler wavelength tuning across 6540-7186 nm with spectral bandwidths >400 nm at -10 dB level over the entire range, and a maximum bandwidth of 478 nm at 6.9 µm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest average power generated from a femtosecond OPO in the deep mid-IR. The OPO also provides near-IR signal wavelengths tunable across 1204-1212 nm with a usable power of 450 mW in 418-fs pulses at 1207 nm. The simultaneously measured signal and idler power exhibit a passive stability better than 1.6% rms and 3% rms, respectively. A mid-IR idler spectral stability with a standard deviation of the frequency fluctuations better than 40 MHz over 15 min, limited by the measurement resolution, is realized. Using the mid-IR idler from the CSP OPO, we perform Fourier-transform spectroscopy to detect liquid phase organic solvent, toluene (C7H8), in the molecular fingerprint region.

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