Intracavity-pumped, cascaded AgGaSe2 optical parametric oscillator tunable from 5.8 to 18 mu m

A AgGaSe2 nonlinear crystal placed in a coupled cavity is intracavity pumped by the similar to 1.85-mu m signal pulses of a 1.064-mu m pumped Rb: PPKTP doubly-resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) operating at a repetition rate of 100 Hz. Using two samples cut for type-I and II phase-matching, the overall idler tunability of the singly-resonant AgGeSe2 OPO covers an unprecedented spectral range from 5.8 to similar to 18 mu m in the mid-IR.