Development of an all-solid-state pulsed Nd:YAG laser for pumping picosecond OPO systems

High performance mode-locking of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser was achieved at 1.064 µm by using a frequency doubling nonlinear mirror (FDNLM) based on a BBO crystal for second harmonic generation and on a dichroïc mirror. A GaAs platelet was inserted into the laser cavity for providing a passive negative feedback. Pulses shorter than 15 ps were generated. The FDNLM has the following merits: photochemical stability, short response time, simplicity and applicability to a wide spectral range. The optical oscillator is the first element of a two-color laser system including two synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators (OPO) built around a BBO and a LiNbO3 crystal, and tunable from 410 to 2600 nm and from 2.5 to 3.6 µm, respectively.