Abstract

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are extremely useful in producing tunable coherent radiation over wide ranges of the infrared, visible and ultraviolet regions.¹ They are, however, not lasers in the classical sense, so that it is unreasonable to expect them always to possess the temporal, spatial and spectral properties of a laser. Our own work, aimed at developing spectroscopically useful OPO devices for industrial sensing applications, has identified some interesting departures from "laser-like" performance of an OPO based on potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP). Recent work, both experimental^2,3 and theoretical,⁴ lends support to our findings.

© 1995 Optical Society of America