Room Temperature Watt-Level 3.87 Mu M Mgo:Ppln Optical Parametric Oscillator Under Pumping With A Tm:Yap Laser

A room-temperature highly efficient Tm:YAP laser pumped MgO:PPLN optical parametric oscillator operating at 3.87 mu m near degeneracy is demonstrated. The pump source is an acousto-optical (AO) Q-switched Tm:YAP laser, which delivers a maximum output power of 6.17 W with a pulse duration of 45 ns and a repetition rate of 6 kHz. The temperature dependent wavelength tuning characteristics of the PPLN-OPO is investigated, and a maximum OPO output power of 1.2 W at around 3.87 mu m is achieved at 35 degrees C, corresponding to an optical-optical conversion efficiency of 19.4%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the maximum output power ever reported from 2 mu m waveband laser pumped 3-5 mu m MgO:PPLN OPOs. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement