High-average-power mid-infrared ZnGeP2 optical parametric oscillator with a wavelength-dependent polarization rotator

A wavelength-dependent polarization rotator is used to transform the orthogonal polarizations of the signal and idler of a near-degenerate type II KTP optical parametric oscillator (OPO) into a common polarization state. This common polarization allows a single ZnGeP2 OPO to fully utilize the 2 mu m signal and idler KTP OPO outputs in a mid-IR conversion. The simple design of the wavelength-dependent polarization rotator yields a compact source that simultaneously generates four mid-IR wavelengths collinearly with a total mid-IR average power of 5.5 W at a > 15 kHz pulse repetition rate. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.