Abstract

Optical parametric amplifiers (OPA's) can exhibit squeezed amplification when an injected signal beam is used to elicit small-signal gain saturation. This paper extends previous work on OPA mean-field behavior under signal injection. Doubly resonant and triply resonant, single-ended cavities are considered in the good-cavity limit. Owing to the nonlinear coupling between the signal and idler beams within the cavity, both are sensitive to the detuning of each beam from its respective resonance. Signal and idler output mean fields are found by solving the nonlinear coupled-mode equations and are numerically evaluated for a variety of detunings and injection levels. Gain saturation is shown to occur for both beams and to be dependent on the cavity detunings. Comparisons are made with experimental results obtained from a doubly resonant MgO-doped, LiNbO₃ OPA/OPO.

© 1992 Optical Society of America