Narrowband cw injection seeded high power femtosecond double-pass optical parametric generator at 43 MHz: Gain and noise dynamics

We demonstrate narrowband cw injection seeding of a femtosecond double-pass optical parametric generator at 43 MHz repetition rate with a simple, low power external cavity diode laser. Up to 2.5 W of near-IR radiation (1.5 - 1.66 mu m) as well as 800 mW of tunable mid-IR radiation (2.75 - 3.15 mu m) with pulse durations below 300 fs are generated with a remarkable pulse-to-pulse and long term power stability. Compared to conventional, vacuum noise seeded optical parametric generators, the presented frequency conversion scheme does not only exhibit superior gain and noise dynamics, but also a high degree of flexibility upon control parameters such as pump power, seed power, or spectral position of the seed. (C)2016 Optical Society of America