Experimental and analytical studies on the tuning characteristics of continuous-wave, doubly resonant optical parametric oscillators, continuously operating from 0.8 to 1.6 μm
Abstract
This paper reports theoretical and experimental studies of the tuning characteristics of continuous-wave, doubly resonant optical parametric oscillators (CW OPOs) using temperature-tuned nonlinear crystals of MgO:LiNbO3 and LiB3O5. Broadband tuning between 0.8 and 1.6 μm with a narrow spectral linewidth that is about 4 times broader than those ever reported in CW OPOs operating around 1 μm has been successfully demonstrated with a single set of extremely broadband high-reflection cavity mirrors. Bands in the OPO spectrum dropped out at locations coincident with small fluctuations in the reflectivity characteristics of the broadband mirrors, due to optical interaction between stacks of the coating layers. We also demonstrate that the tuning characteristics strongly reflect the cluster-mode characteristic and parametric gain bandwidth of the nonlinear crystals. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 82(11): 35–51, 1999