High-efficiency near- and mid-IR intra-cavity OPO

The near and mid-IR spectral region is of significant interest due to the atmospheric windows present in this region. Applications of lasers operating in this spectral region range from their use in remote sensing LIDAR, IR counter measures (IRCM), spectroscopy and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) sensing systems. We report the development of a compact, highly efficient, high power intra-cavity pumped all-solid-state optical parametric oscillator (OPO) producing nanosecond pulses at kHz repetition rates with an output tunable from 1.5 microns to 3.4 microns with pulse energies up to 10mJ. With our novel Intra-Cavity OPO design, pump to signal conversion efficiencies up to 65% (which is very close to its quantum efficiency) at room temperature are achievable.