Singly resonant cw OPO with simple wavelength tuning

A singly resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator (cw OPO) is described. The OPO contains no intracavity etalon, which makes its wavelength tuning simple and straightforward, including only temperature tuning of the nonlinear crystal and wavelength tuning of the pump laser. The OPO provides watt-level output in the mid-infrared region and operates reliably without mode hops for several hours. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.