Abstract

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are the laser sources of choice when one needs broad continuous tunability (one octave or more), high peak (> 1 kW) or average (> 1 W) power, and high (> 30%) conversion efficiency. OPOs use the nonlinear-optical frequency down-conversion mechanism to get a tunable output. This chapter reviews pulsed OPOs in the 2–20 μm region of the spectrum. It contains a description of the principle of OPO operation, reviews existing and emerging nonlinear optical materials suitable for OPO applications and describes different OPO schemes including cascaded OPOs, narrow-linewidth OPOs as well as traveling-wave devices.

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