We report a high-energy optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronously pumped by a 7.19 MHz, Yb:fiber-amplified, picosecond, gain-switched laser diode. The 42-m-long ring cavity maintains a compact design through the use of an intracavity optical fiber. The periodically poled MgO-doped LiNbO(3) OPO provides output pulse energies as high as 0.49 μJ at 1.5 μm (signal) and 0.19 μJ at 3.6 μm (idler). Tunability from 1.5 to 1.7 μm and from 2.9 to 3.6 μm is demonstrated, and typical M(2) values of 1.5 × 1.3 and 2.8 × 1.9 are measured for the signal and idler, respectively, at high power.

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We demonstrate a picosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) that is synchronously pumped by a fiber-amplified gain-switched laser diode. At 24W of pump power, up to 7.3W at 1.54microm and 3.1W at 3.4microm is obtained in separate output beams. The periodically poled MgO-doped LiNbO(3) OPO operates with ~17ps pulses at a fundamental repetition rate of 114.8MHz but can be switched to higher repetition rates up to ~1GHz. Tunabilty between 1.4microm and 1.7microm (signal) and 2.9microm and 4.4microm (idler) is demonstrated by translating the nonlinear crystal to access different poling-period gratings and typical M(2) values of 1.1 by 1.2 (signal) and 1.6 by 3.2 (idler) are measured at high power for the singly resonant oscillator.

Yb:CaYAlO(4) has been investigated spectroscopically and compared to better known Yb:CaGdAlO(4). It turns out that both materials show very similar spectroscopic parameters relevant to ultrafast lasers design. Employing single-mode fiber-coupled 400-mW laser diode at 976 nm we measured pulses as short as 43 fs, and broad tunability of 40 nm with a simple single-prism setup.

We investigate the performance of a magnesium-oxide-doped periodically poled lithium niobate crystal (MgO:PPLN) in an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) synchronouslypumped by 530nm, 20ps, 230MHz pulses with an average power of up to 2W from a frequency-doubled, gain-switched laser diode seed and a multi-stage Yb:fiber amplifier system. The OPO produces ~165mW (signal, 845nm) and ~107mW (idler, 1421nm) of average power for ~1W of pump power and can be tuned from ~800nm to 900nm (signal) and 1.28µm to 1.54µm (idler). Observations of photo-refraction and green-induced infrared absorption (GRIIRA) in different operational regimes of the MgO:PPLN OPO are described and the role of peak intensity and average power are investigated, both with the aim to find the optimal operating regime for pulsed systems.

A detailed performance comparison of new interesting Yb-doped crystals in the same oscillator setup, with single-mode fiber-coupled diode laser pump is reported. We intended to assess the shortest pulses achievable with available SESAM technology, running a fair comparison with laser crystals Yb:KLuW, Yb:SSO, Yb:CALGO, Yb:CALYO and Yb:CaF₂, very likely including the most promising choices for the next generation of commercial bulk ultrafast solid-state systems.

We report on a picosecond, green-pumped, lithium triborate optical parametric oscillator with record-high output power. It was synchronously pumped by a frequency-doubled (530 nm), pulse-compressed (4.4 ps), high-repetition-rate (230 MHz), fiber-amplified gain-switched laser diode. For a pump power of 17 W, a maximum signal and idler power of 3.7 W and 1.8 W was obtained from the optical parametric oscillator. A signal pulse duration of ~3.2 ps was measured and wide tunability from 651 nm to 1040 nm for the signal and from 1081 nm to 2851 nm for the idler was achieved.

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