Abstract

Continuons-wave optical parametric oscillators (OPO’s) have recently reemerged thanks to significant developments in stable, single-frequency pump sources, improved nonlinear materials and novel resonator designs. The threshold of OPO’s varies with the number of waves for which the cavity has high quality-factor, decreasing from singly-resonant (signal or idler), doubly-resonant (signal and idler), triply-resonant (signal, idler and pump). Here we describe the first quadruply-resonant OPO (QRO), resonant for signal, idler, pump and subharmonic of the pump, the latter being driven by an external wave.

© 1993 Optical Society of America