Abstract

Recently we reported on the 20-fold intracavity compression of generated pulses down to 500 fs in a β-barium-borate (BBO) synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator (SPOPO) pumped by trains of 6011 -ps at 355 nm (the third harmonic of an active-passive-mode-locked Nd:YAG laser with passive negative feedback).¹ This high ratio of compression means that femtosecond pulses tunable over a wide spectral region can be generated by using a conventional mode-locked picosecond laser as a pump source. We report on further experiments with pulse compression in an SPOPO and on the further development of our model of SPOPO operation.

© 1995 Optical Society of America