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Self‐phase‐locked degenerate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on BiB 3 O 6
Author(s) -
RamaiahBadarla Venkata,
EstebanMartin Adolfo,
EbrahimZadeh Majid
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
laser and photonics reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.778
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1863-8899
pISSN - 1863-8880
DOI - 10.1002/lpor.201300058
Subject(s) - optical parametric oscillator , femtosecond , optics , materials science , laser , physics , nonlinear optics , degenerate energy levels , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics
A self‐phase‐locked degenerate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the birefringent nonlinear material, bismuth triborate, BiB 3 O 6 , synchronously‐pumped by a Kerr‐lens‐mode‐locked Ti:sapphire laser at 800 nm is described. By exploiting versatile phase‐matching properties of BiB 3 O 6 , including large spectral and angular acceptance for parametric generation and low group velocity dispersion in the optical xz plane, stable self‐phase‐locked degenerate OPO operation centered at 1600 nm is demonstrated using collinear type I ( e → oo ) interaction in a 1.5‐mm crystal at room temperature. The degenerate OPO output spectrum extends over 46 nm (∼5.4 THz) with 190 fs pulse duration for input pump pulses of 155 fs with a bandwidth of 7 nm. Phase coherence between the pump and degenerate output is verified using f‐2f interferometry, and discrete frequency beats caused by different carrier‐envelope‐offset frequencies are measured using radio frequency measurements. Photo shows a 1.5‐mm BiB 3 O 6 crystal used as a nonlinear gain medium in a degenerate self‐phase‐locked femtosecond OPO operating at room temperature. The green beam is the result of non‐phase‐matched sum‐frequency mixing between the pump light and the sub‐harmonic OPO field at degeneracy.