Observations of complex frequency comb structure in a harmonically-pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator. (18th March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McCracken, Richard A; Balskus, Karolis; Zhang, Zhaowei; Reid, Derryck T
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Number 594 (2015)
• Page Start: 012004
• Publication Date: 2015-03-18
• Subjects: Physics -- Congresses; 530.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/594/1/012004
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-6588

Abstract

Abstract: Various schemes allow femtosecond optical parametric oscillators to produce pulses at harmonics of their pump laser repetition frequency, each apparently offering the possibility of generating widely-spaced, tunable frequency combs. Using a 100-MHz Ti:sapphire pump laser, we have compared two alternative optical parametric oscillator architectures, both leading to 300-MHz pulses but one configured in a cavity three times shorter than the pump laser and the other in a cavity one-third longer. Heterodyne measurements between the pump and each of these two systems show that they possess different carrier-envelope offset characteristics, with implications on the coherence and stabilization of the resulting combs.