We introduce an optical parametric amplifier, pumped by an amplified femtosecond Yb:KGW laser, which directly generates broadly tunable mid-infrared (MIR) pulses, covering the whole vibrational spectrum from 3 to 10 µm. The avoidance of the traditional difference-frequency generation stage to access the MIR range simplifies the setup while enabling high conversion efficiencies. The two-stage design employs in the second stage either periodically poled lithium niobate, optimized for the CH/OH stretching region (3-5 µm) or LiGaS2, which allows extending the tunability to the fingerprint region (up to 10 µm). We anticipate applications of this versatile source to ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy and infrared microscopy. © 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
Broadly tunable mid-infrared femtosecond pulses directly generated by an optical parametric amplifier
RICCARDO GOTTI;
2021-01-01
Abstract
We introduce an optical parametric amplifier, pumped by an amplified femtosecond Yb:KGW laser, which directly generates broadly tunable mid-infrared (MIR) pulses, covering the whole vibrational spectrum from 3 to 10 µm. The avoidance of the traditional difference-frequency generation stage to access the MIR range simplifies the setup while enabling high conversion efficiencies. The two-stage design employs in the second stage either periodically poled lithium niobate, optimized for the CH/OH stretching region (3-5 µm) or LiGaS2, which allows extending the tunability to the fingerprint region (up to 10 µm). We anticipate applications of this versatile source to ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy and infrared microscopy. © 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing AgreementI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
