Abstract

We have demonstrated efficient amplification of near-infrared, 0.83 mm and 1.06 mm radiation in a photorefractive ring resonator using Rh:BaTiO₃. By reducing the Fresnel losses that occur at the surfaces of the crystal and by carefully selecting a crystal with high photorefractive gain and low absorption, significant amplification of a diffraction- limited oscillation beam was observed; in some cases the power of the oscillating beam exceeded that of the pump beam by more than a factor of 3. We also showed that such an efficiently working photorefractive cavity is sensitive to sub-nanometer changes in cavity length.

© 2001 Optical Society of America