We present a novel design of a few-cycle noncollinear optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) pumped by the second harmonic of a Ti: sapphire laser. A quasi-transform-limited sub-6 fs pulse width was realized by static dispersion compensation with commercially available chirped mirrors. The performance of the NOPA was tested by performing transient absorption spectroscopy on sensory rhodopsin II, and we observe short-lived oscillatory components that are associated with the vibrational coherence from the isomerizing molecule in the excited electronic state. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.