High-pulse-energy, linear optical parametric oscillator with narrow and symmetrical far field.

A new method to obtain a narrow and symmetrical far field from a high-pulse-energy optical parametric oscillator (OPO) with a linear resonator has been tested. The OPO employs two identical nonlinear crystals that are cut for type II phase matching, rotated such that their walk-off planes are orthogonal, and separated by a broadband half-wave plate. The OPO has a simple geometry, can be double-pass pumped, is wavelength tunable and operates stably with high conversion efficiency. The method has been demonstrated in a KTP-based OPO pumped at 1064 nm and a BBO-based OPO pumped at 532 nm, with output pulse energies up to 60 mJ and 75 mJ, respectively.