Project Summary
The main objective of this bilateral collaborative research project is the development of novel type optical parametric oscillators generating signal and idler pulses in the near- and mid-infrared with sub-nanosecond pulse duration. They will be pumped near 1 micron by dedicated oscillator-amplifier systems providing high energy (up to 10 mJ) pulses of 1 ns duration at a repetition rate of 0.5-1 kHz. Short nonlinear crystal lengths (0.5-1 cm) will be applied in conjunction with as short as possible OPO cavity lengths in order to ensure sufficient number of round trips for high parametric amplification. The pulse compression as a result of the exponential parametric gain in time will result in sub-nanosecond pulses at the signal and idler wavelengths. Several materials with high nonlinear coefficients will be employed including periodically poled oxides like PPSLT and chalcogenide materials like the solid solution CdHgGa2S4.