Optical parametric oscillators synchronously pumped by fundamental and second harmonic radiation of femtosecond Yb:KGW laser

We present experimental data obtained during investigation of synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators (SPOPO's) pumped by fundamental (1030 nm) and second harmonic (515 nm) radiation of mode-locked Yb:KGW laser, providing 105 fs pulses at 76 MHz repetition rate with an average power of 4 W. Different nonlinear crystals such as beta barium borate (BBO), and periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) and MgO doped PPLN (MgO: PPLN) were tested to estimate wavelength tuning capabilities and SPOPO's efficiency. Rotation of BBO nonlinear crystal and SPOPO's cavity length variation and, in the case of SPOPO based on PPLN, change of grating period and cavity length allowed signal wavelength tuning in 630 - 1030 nm and 1350 - 1700 nm spectral ranges, respectively. Parametric light conversion from pump power to signal power efficiency was as high as 25 %. Including the idler pulses the tuning ranges were from 630 to 2400 nm and from 1350 to 4000 nm in case of BBO and PPLN crystals, respectively. SPOPO based on BBO wsithout intracavity group velocity dispersion (GVD) compensation generates longer than transform limited pulses, so SPOPO based on BBO with dispersive prisms were investigated.