Multimode pumping of optical parametric oscillators

Date
1996-02
Authors
Marshall, L. R.
Kaz, A.
Aytur, O.
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
Print ISSN
0018-9197
Electronic ISSN
1558-1713
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Volume
32
Issue
2
Pages
177 - 182
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

Calculations suggest that optical parametric oscillators (OPO's) can be efficiently pumped using multimode, divergent pump sources. The influence of pump beam divergence and mode structure upon OPO performance is measured for both noncritical phase-matching, and OPO's with walkoff. Multimode OPO pumping is shown to be efficient, provided appropriate nonlinear crystals and OPO cavities are employed; the nonlinear crystal must have sufficient angular acceptance to tolerate a divergent pump; the OPO cavity must support modes that match the divergence and spatial intensity characteristics of the pump, For low-order pump modes, the OPO can be made to match the mode of the pump. Higher order pump modes reduce the OPO efficiency, and cause a saturation of efficiency with increasing pump power. The efficiency is degraded in a similar fashion in the presence of walkoff. Multimode pumping is more difficult in longer OPO cavities due to increased buildup time of higher order OPO modes.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Nonlinear optics, Optical pumping, Oscillators, Optical saturation, Laser excitation, Phase measurement, Frequency conversion, Optical frequency conversion, Crystals, Degradation
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)