Wavelength tunable, single-longitudinal-mode optical parametric oscillator with a transversally chirped volume Bragg grating

We report on single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) operation of a low-threshold optical parametric oscillator, with a 17 nm tunability near 2 µm. The oscillator uses a MgO:PPLN crystal in Type 0 quasi-phase-matching configuration, pumped by a 1.064 µm SLM laser. Despite the huge acceptance bandwidth near-degeneracy of MgO:PPLN, spectral selection down to a SLM is achieved by combining a volume Bragg reflector and Vernier filtering in nested signal and idler cavities. Tunability over 17 nm is demonstrated owing to a transverse chirp of the grating period of the Bragg reflector.