Generation of femtosecond pulses from order-of-magnitude pulse compression in a synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator based on periodically poled lithium niobate

We demonstrate the generation of compressed, transform-limited 250-fs pulses, tunable in the near infrared, by means of synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillation in periodically poled lithium niobate. The almost 20-fold compression from the 4-ps pulse duration of the cw mode-locked Nd:YLF pump results in signal peak powers well in excess of the pump power.