Multi-wavelength injection seeded mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator for DIAL

We have constructed and fielded a multi-wavelength injection seeded mid-IR OPO source for DIAL. This OPO system was built for ground based remote sensing measurements of species with both broad (300 cm{sup -1}) and narrow absorption bandwidths (0.07 cm{sup -1} FWHM). The OPO utilizes a single frequency tunable diode laser for the injection seeded signal wavelength in the region from 6400 to 6700 cm{sup -1} and an angle phase-matched 5 cm LiNbO3 crystal to provide large tuning excursions on a slow time scale. The pump was a diode pumped Nd:YAG MOPA (9398 cm{sup -1}) running at 180 Hz. This pump source was repeatedly injection seeded with a different wavelength on each of film sequential shots forming a set of three pulses having wavelength separations on the order of 0.4 cm{sup -1} at a three color set repetition rate of 60 Hz. This combination of OPO signal and pump source produced a set of three time staggered idler wavelengths separated by 0.4 cm{sup -1} with the center wavelength tunable from 2700 to 3000 cm{sup -1}. This OPO system was used in field test experiments to detect the release of chemicals from a standoff distance of 3.3 Km. We present key OPO design criteria, performance data, and numerical simulations that agree with our observations of pump induced spectral impurities in the OPO output.