Optical parametric oscillator and amplifier providing tunable, narrowband nanosecond laser pulses in the mid-infrared with mJ pulse energy

We report on an all-solid-state light source for nanosecond (ns) laser pulses, with broad tunability in the mid-infrared, spectral bandwidth close to the Fourier transform limit, and pulse energy in the mJ regime. To this end, we extend a tunable, continuous wave (cw) singly resonant optical parametric oscillator by an optical parametric pre-amplifier with a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal and a power amplifier stage with two bulk lithium niobate crystals. We demonstrate pulse energies beyond 1 mJ in a tuning range between 3.3 and 3.8 mu m center wavelength, with options for even larger output pulse energy and tuning range. The total conversion efficiency in the power amplifier reaches 20%. From measurements of absorption spectroscopy, we determine a very narrow linewidth of 108 MHz (full width at half maximum, FWHM), which is only a factor of 1.4 above the Fourier limit. We demonstrate the applicability and versatility of the laser system for nonlinear spectroscopy by resonantly enhanced third harmonic generation and sum frequency mixing in a gas sample of HCl molecules.