Optical parametric oscillator synchronously pumped by a tunable Yb/sup 3+/ fiber laser

Summary form only given. Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) has emerged as an extremely useful nonlinear optical material, offering a large nonlinear coefficient and noncritical phase matching across its extensive transmission range. The suitability of PPLN as a basis for harmonic frequency generators and optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) has been widely demonstrated. For OPOs, tunability of the pump can be a major convenience because it removes the need for temperature tuning. The need then is for a compact, and tunable pump source. Fiber lasers, with their broad tunability and high gain are obvious candidates, and in this paper we report what is the first operation of a PPLN-based synchronously pumped OPO driven by a mode-locked fiber laser. We demonstrate continuous tuning of the output by varying the pump wavelength.