Group velocity mismatch-absent nonlinear frequency conversions for mid-infrared femtosecond pulses generation

Abstract

A novel group velocity mismatch (GVM) absent scheme for nonlinear optical parametric procedure in mid-infrared was developed with type-I quasi phase matching by use of an off-digital nonlinear optical coefficient d 31. This was achieved by matching of the group velocities of the pump and the signal waves, while the phase velocities were quasi phase matched. The system employs MgO-doped periodically poled LiNbO 3 as the nonlinear medium. Desired group-velocity dispersion would be obtained via appropriately temperature regulation. To demonstrate its potential applications in ultrafast mid-infrared pulses generation, aiming at a typical mid-infrared wavelength of ∼3.2 μm, design examples of two basic nonlinear frequency conversion procedures are studied for both the narrow-band seeding mid-IR optical parametric amplification (OPA) and the synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillation (SPOPO). Compared with the conventional scheme of type-0 QPM, the quantum-efficiency can be more than doubled with nearly unlimited bandwidth. The proposed GVM-absent phase matching design may provide a promising route to efficient and broadband sub-100 fs mid-infrared ultrafast pulses generation without group-velocity walk-off.