Abstract

The tuning analysis of the doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator (DRO) is extended to provide a quantitative description of spectral hops between adjacent axial modes and the larger discontinuous frequency changes of cluster jumps, which are in agreement with experimental observations. DRO's offer the advantages of lower pump threshold for oscillation and better frequency selectivity than singly resonant parametric oscillators (SRO's), and it has been demonstrated that DRO's can reproduce the frequency stability of the pump radiation with little additional noise.¹ These advantages, however, are gained with an increase in the complexity of tuning. Control of three parameters, such as pump frequency, temperature, and applied electric field, is required to attain optimum phase and frequency matching of the cavity resonances for DRO operation. The pump-frequency change is divided between the DRO signal and idler. Temperature change used to maintain phase matching and applied potential is used to maintain frequency matching through feedback techniques. DRO's should find application to slowly tuned or fixed-frequency operation, whereas SRO's have advantages for rapidly tuned and transient-pulse operation. Experimental studies to demonstrate stable fixed-frequency operation and slowly tuned operation of DRO's are in progress.

© 1990 Optical Society of America