September 15, 1997 / Vol. 22, No.

18 / OPTICS LETTERS 1397

Broadly tunable infrared femtosecond optical parametric

oscillator based on periodically poled RbTiOAsO4
D. T. Reid, Z. Penman, M. Ebrahimzadeh, and W. Sibbett
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK

H. Karlsson
Institute of Optical Research, Royal Institute of Technology, Lindstedtsvägen 24, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

F. Laurell
Department of Physics II, Royal Institute of Technology, Lindstedtsvägen 24, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Received June 16, 1997

We present results from what we believe is the first reported example of an optical parametric oscillator based
on periodically poled RbTiOAsO4. The oscillator is pumped by a femtosecond self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire
laser and, with a single-grating 2-mm-long crystal and one mirror set, a combination of pump and cavity-length
tuning provided wavelength coverage from 1060 to 1225 nm (signal) and 2.67 to 4.5 mm (idler). Average output
powers were as much as 120 mW in the signal and 105 mW in the idler and interferometric autocorrelations
recorded at signal and idler wavelengths of 1.1 and 3.26 mm, respectively, imply pulse durations of 125 and
115 fs, respectively.  1997 Optical Society of America

The titanyl arsenates, RbTiOAsO4 (RTA) in particu- be used in frequency-downconversion applications for
lar, have been used widely in bulk crystal form for which KTP is not suitable.
Ti:sapphire-pumped femtosecond optical parametric We prepared the RTA crystal used here from an
oscillators1 – 4 (OPO’s) because of their good crystal 8 mm long 3 1 mm thick sample by patterning a pho-
quality, relatively high nonlinear coefficients, and toresist grating with a period of 30 mm upon the c1
broad birefringent phase-matching range. To operate face. Electrical contact with the crystal was made
at wavelengths beyond 3 mm with these crystals it is by a KCl electrolyte, and the sample was poled with
necessary that one employ a critically phase-matched 12-ms-long voltage pulses of 2.0 kV. We evaluated the
noncollinear geometry that reduces the single-pass quality of the QPM structure by carrying out sixth-
gain and whose alignment requires sensitive detection order second-harmonic generation with a cw source
equipment. Quasi-phase matching (QPM) makes with a fundamental wavelength of 914 nm. The width
it possible to combine the convenience of noncritical of the obtained phase-matching peak implied an effec-
phase matching with the wavelength coverage of a tive interaction length equivalent to ,80% of the to-
critical geometry, and in practice this is realized by the tal grating length and a nonlinear coefficient of deff ,
technique of periodic poling. To date, quasi-phase- 8 pmyV. We then cut the sample to obtain a 2-mm-
matched infrared OPO’s have relied exclusively on long crystal whose end faces were then polished and
periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN), which one subsequently coated with an antiref lection coating cen-
can use to produce idler wavelengths of longer than tered at a wavelength of 1.1 mm. We selected the crys-
5 mm, and in our own laboratory we have generated tal length to permit comparison with a previous OPO
idler wavelengths as long as 5.3 mm from a fem- that used a 2-mm-long bulk RTA crystal,2 and, using
tosecond PPLN-based OPO. Some unresolved issues the periodically poled sample, we configured a singly
with PPLN (notably thermal effects, photorefraction, resonant femtosecond OPO in a three-mirror standing-
and restricted aperture sizes) mean that for certain wave V cavity similar to that described in Ref. 2. We
applications other materials may prove to be more used a temperature controller and oven to maintain
practical; however, PPLN was successfully utilized in the crystal near 35 ±C to avoid minor signs of pho-
a synchronously pumped picosecond OPO without any torefractive damage that were apparent at room tem-
significant photorefractive or thermal damage.5 The perature. The concave focusing mirrors had radii of
crystal isomorphs of KTiOPO4 (KTP) are characterized curvature of 100 mm, and all mirrors were coated for
by a relatively low coercive field that, in combination high transmission at 800 nm and high ref lectivity at a
with their highly anisotropic structure and low tem- signal wavelength of 1100 nm. The mirror substrate
perature dependence, permits them to be fabricated by material was CaF2, which is transparent to beyond
periodic poling into large-aperture QPM devices suit- 5 mm, and the transmission of the coating at the idler
able for high-power applications. Of these isomorphs, wavelength was approximately 75%. Typically, the
the particularly low ionic conductivity of RTA makes it Ti:sapphire pump laser produced pulses with durations
easier to pole than KTP,6 and its greater transmission of 100 fs at an average output power of 1.2 W and with
in the 4–5-mm wavelength region permits RTA to a repetition frequency of 84.2 MHz. We chose the fo-
0146-9592/97/181397-03$10.00/0  1997 Optical Society of America
1398 OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 22, No. 18 / September 15, 1997

dispersion of the crystal itself can be calculated from

the Sellmeier equations for RTA (Ref. 7) to be 1320 fs2 ,
which implies a residual cavity dispersion of 180 fs2
associated with the air and the resonator mirrors.

Fig. 1. Pump wavelength tuning and phase-matching

bandwidth of a 2-mm-long periodically poled RTA crystal
with a 30-mm poling period and with all polarizations
parallel to the optical z axis.

cusing in the resonator to give a minimum signal beam

radius of 18 mm, and the pump was focused by a 50-mm
focal-length lens to a radius of 15 mm. The polariza-
tions of the pump, the signal, and the idler waves were
all horizontal in the cavity and were parallel to the pol-
ing direction, which lies along the crystallographic c
axis. In RTA this direction is equivalent to the optical
Z axis snz . ny . nx d and the piezoelectric Z axis.
In the f irst instance the resonator was conf igured
without dispersion compensation. Interferometric au-
Fig. 2. (a) Signal and ( b) idler spectra illustrating the
tocorrelation measurements of the signal output indi- tuning range of the RTA OPO. The complete wavelength
cated strongly chirped pulses with durations of 750 fs ranges covered by the OPO were 1060 – 1225 nm for the
and, using a 1% signal output coupler, we extracted signal wave and 2.67– 4.5 mm for the idler.
70 mW of average power at a wavelength of 1100 nm.
By cavity-length tuning the OPO toward the long-
wavelength cutoff of the high-ref lectivity mirrors we
extracted a total power of 120 mW at 1.22 mm with
an effective cavity output coupling of 12%. The pump-
power oscillation threshold for this conf iguration was
265 mW, and a maximum pump depletion of 52% was
observed. Cavity-length tuning of the uncompensated
OPO was rapid, and a length increase of 26 mm was suf-
ficient for tuning the signal center wavelength across
the entire mirror bandwidth from 1072 to 1225 nm.
This cavity-length tuning range is far greater than that
observed from a 2-mm-long bulk crystal of RTA and
can be explained by the approximately sixfold increase
in phase-matching bandwidth that is available in the
QPM geometry. This wide bandwidth is associated
with the retracing behavior of the OPO output wave-
lengths under pump tuning and is illustrated in Fig. 1
for a 2-mm-long crystal with a 30-mm grating period.
Wave-vector mismatch sDk ­ kp 2 ks 2 ki 2 kg d is
shown varying from perfect phase matching (black) to
a mismatch equal to or exceeding the phase-matching
bandwidth (white). The tuning rate, dlydL, derived
from the experimental results is 0.0059, where L is the
length of the standing-wave cavity. The single-pass
dispersion can be obtained for the cavity with Fig. 3. Fringe-resolved interferometric autocorrelation
µ ∂
d2 f l2 dl 21 , and corresponding spectrum of the signal pulses from
­ (1) the intracavity dispersion-compensated OPO, which is
dv 2 2pc2 dL
resonant at a wavelength of 1105 nm. The pulse duration
and the tuning data imply a value of 1400 fs2 . The inferred from the autocorrelation prof ile is 125 fs, and the
single-pass dispersion contributed by the material duration– bandwidth product is 0.36.
 September 15, 1997 / Vol. 22, No. 18 / OPTICS LETTERS 1399

spectrum at a signal wavelength of 1105 nm are

shown in Fig. 3 and imply that the pulses are close to
transform limited with DnDt ­ 0.36.
The idler output included wavelengths of 2.67 –
4.5 mm, and representative spectra recorded from the
dispersion-compensated OPO are shown in Fig. 2(b).
Power measurements across this range are plotted in
Fig. 4 for the OPO with (circles) and without (squares)
signal-dispersion compensation. All measurements
were recorded for a pump wavelength of 830 nm, except
for those above an idler wavelength of 3.9 mm, which
corresponded to a pump wavelength of 852 nm. Tun-
ing to idler wavelengths beyond 4.5 mm requires longer
pump wavelengths that could not be generated with
the mirror set of our Ti:sapphire laser. The maximum
Fig. 4. Average idler power recorded as a function of wave-
length for the OPO operated with (circles) and without
power recorded was 105 mW from the uncompensated
(squares) intracavity dispersion compensation. All mea- cavity at a wavelength of 2.8 mm and fell to a few milli-
surements were made with a pump wavelength of 830 nm, watts at 4.5 mm. Figure 5 depicts an interferometric
except for the two longest-wavelength data points, which autocorrelation prof ile and a corresponding spectrum
correspond to a pump wavelength of 852 nm. measured at a wavelength of 3.26 mm. The autocorre-
lation and detection were carried out simultaneously
with the nonlinear response of an InGaAs photo-
diode.4 Assuming a sech2 std pulse-intensity prof ile,
the pulse duration was inferred from the autocorrela-
tion to be 115 fs and, together with the spectral data,
implies a pulse-duration– bandwidth product of 0.46.
We attribute the chirp on the pulses to dispersion in
the idler collimation and focusing optics.
In summary, we have reported what, to our knowl-
edge, is the f irst demonstration of an OPO based
on periodically poled RTA. Ti:sapphire pump tuning
and OPO cavity-length tuning produced wavelengths
throughout the range 1060–1225 nm in the signal and
2.67–4.5 mm in the idler with average output powers as
great as 120 mW in the signal and 105 mW in the idler
output. The damage-free operation and broad tun-
ing available from periodically poled RTA demonstrate
that it is a feasible alternative to PPLN for frequency-
downconversion applications in the near and the mid
infrared.
The authors acknowledge financial support for this
project from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council. M. Ebrahimzadeh is grateful to
The Royal Society for funding through a University
Research Fellowship.

References
Fig. 5. Fringe-resolved interferometric autocorrelation 1. P. E. Powers, C. L. Tang, and L. K. Cheng, Opt. Lett. 19,
and accompanying spectrum of the idler pulses from the 1439 (1994).
OPO operating at a wavelength of 3.26 mm. The pulse 2. D. T. Reid, M. Ebrahimzadeh, and W. Sibbett, Opt. Lett.
duration determined from the autocorrelation prof ile is 20, 55 (1995).
115 fs, and the pulse-duration – bandwidth product is 0.46. 3. D. T. Reid, C. McGowan, W. Sleat, M. Ebrahimzadeh,
and W. Sibbett, Opt. Lett. 22, 525 (1997).
4. D. T. Reid, C. McGowan, M. Ebrahimzadeh, and W.
Intracavity dispersion compensation was implemented Sibbett, IEEE J. Quantum. Electron. 33, 1 (1997).
5. S. D. Butterworth, P. G. R. Smith, and D. C. Hanna,
with a pair of SF14 prisms with an apex separation
Opt. Lett. 22, 618 (1997).
of 300 mm, and cavity-length tuning generated signal 6. H. Karlsson, F. Laurell, P. Henriksson, and G. Arvids-
spectra from 1068 to 1225 nm [Fig. 2(a)] and implied son, Electron. Lett. 32, 556 (1996).
a single-pass cavity dispersion of 2270 fs2 . The maxi- 7. D. L. Fenimore, K. L. Schepler, D. Zelmon, S. Kück,
mum signal power extracted was 120 mW at 1.2 mm. U. B. Ramabadran, P. Von Richter, and D. Small, J. Opt.
An interferometric autocorrelation and corresponding Soc. Am. B 13, 1935 (1996).