Abstract

We report a 333 MHz femtosecond optical parametric oscillator in which carrier-envelope offset stabilization was implemented by using a versatile locking technique that allowed the idler comb to be tuned continuously over the mid-infrared range from 1.95 to 4.0 μm. A specially designed multi-section, multi-grating, periodically poled KTP crystal provided simultaneously phase-matched parametric down-conversion and pump + idler sum-frequency generation, enabling strong heterodyne signals with the pump supercontinuum (employed for locking) to be obtained across the tuning range of the device. The idler comb offset was stabilized to a 10 MHz reference frequency with a cumulative phase noise from 1 Hz–64 kHz of $<1.3\mathrm{rad}$ maintained across the entire operating range, and average idler output powers up to 50 mW.

© 2015 Optical Society of America

1-GHz harmonically pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator frequency comb

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