Transition from single-mode to multimode operation of an injection-seeded pulsed optical parametric oscillator.

Optical-heterodyne measurements are made on 842-nm signal output of an injection-seeded optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on periodically poled KTiOPO4 pumped at 532 nm by long (27-ns) pulses from a Nd:YAG laser. At low pump energies (</= 2.5 times the free-running threshold), the narrowband tunable OPO output is single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) and frequency chirp can be <10 MHz, much less than the transform-limited optical bandwidth (~17.5 MHz). We explore the transition from SLM operation to multimode operation as pump energy or phase mismatch are increased, causing unseeded cavity modes to build up later in the pulse.