Abstract

Factors influencing the optical bandwidth of a free-running pulsed β-barium borate optical parametric oscillator are examined and incorporated in a simple fitting procedure. Spatiospectral phenomena in the optical parametric oscillator output beam are thereby identified; these suggest a novel way to reduce the effective optical bandwidth for spectroscopic purposes. This technique is demonstrated by recording a degenerate four-wave mixing spectrum of sodium atoms in an air–acetylene flame.

© 1995 Optical Society of America

Controlling the performance of a pulsed optical parametric oscillator: a survey of techniques and spectroscopic applications

J. G. Haub, R. M. Hentschel, M. J. Johnson, and B. J. Orr
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 12(11) 2128-2141 (1995)

Continuously tunable narrow-band operation of an injection-seeded ring-cavity optical parametric oscillator: spectroscopic applications

M. J. Johnson, J. G. Haub, and B. J. Orr
Opt. Lett. 20(11) 1277-1279 (1995)

Bandwidth studies of an injection-seeded β-barium borate optical parametric oscillator

J. M. Boon-Engering, W. E. van der Veer, J. W. Gerritsen, and W. Hogervorst
Opt. Lett. 20(4) 380-382 (1995)

Sub-20-fs tunable pulses in the visible from an 82-MHz optical parametric oscillator

G. M. Gale, M. Cavallari, T. J. Driscoll, and F. Hache
Opt. Lett. 20(14) 1562-1564 (1995)

Ultrashort-pulse generation in degenerate optical parametric oscillators

S. Longhi
Opt. Lett. 20(7) 695-697 (1995)