optical parametric oscillators (original) (raw)

Acronym: OPO

Definition: coherent light sources based on parametric amplification within an optical resonator

Categories: nonlinear optics, photonic devices, non-laser light sources

• light sources
  • light sources based on nonlinear optical effects
    * Light sources based on frequency doubling
    * frequency tripling or sum and difference frequency generation
    * optical parametric optical parametric amplifiers
    * optical parametric generators
    * optical parametric oscillators
    * Raman lasers
    * Brillouin lasers

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Contents

What are Optical Parametric Oscillators?

An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) [1, 2] is a light source similar to a laser, also using a kind of laser resonator, but based on optical gain from parametric amplification (usually in a nonlinear crystal) rather than from stimulated emission of radiation. Like a laser, such a device exhibits a threshold for the pump power, below which there is negligible output power (only some parametric fluorescence).

Figure 1: Schematic of an optical parametric oscillator.

A main attraction of OPOs is that the signal and idler wavelengths, which are determined by a phase-matching condition, can be varied in wide ranges. Thus it is possible to access wavelengths (e.g. in the mid-infrared, far-infrared or terahertz spectral region) which are difficult or impossible to obtain from any laser, and wide wavelength tunability (often by affecting the phase-matching condition) is also often possible. This makes OPOs very valuable, for example, as light sources for laser spectroscopy.

A limitation is that any OPO requires a pump source with high optical intensity and relatively high spatial coherence. Therefore, a laser is essentially always required for pumping an OPO, and as the direct use of a laser diode is in most cases not possible, the system becomes relatively complex, consisting e.g. of laser diodes, a diode-pumped solid-state laser, and the actual OPO.

Figure 2: Setup of a typical optical parametric oscillator with a ring resonator.

The pump beam is injected through a dichroic mirror. The signal beam is resonant, whereas the idler is usually ejected by at least one of the resonator mirrors.

Comparison with Lasers

Although parametric oscillators are in many respects similar to lasers, there are also a couple of important differences:

• Whereas many lasers can be operated with spatially incoherent pump sources, a parametric oscillator requires relatively high spatial coherence of its pump. In most cases, a diode-pumped solid-state laser is used.
• While the emission wavelength of most lasers can be tuned only in a narrow range, many parametric oscillators offer the potential for wavelength tuning with extremely wide tuning ranges. These may span regions in the visible, near or mid-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Particularly in the mid-infrared region, OPOs are very commonly used because there is little competition from mid-IR lasers.
• The parametric amplification process requires phase matching to be efficient. The phase-matching details also determine the oscillation wavelength. Wavelength tuning is in most cases achieved by influencing the phase-matching conditions, e.g. by changing the crystal temperature, the angular orientation of the crystal (for critical phase matching), or the poling period (for quasi-phase matching in periodically poled crystals). Within the phase-matching bandwidth, tuning is also possible with an intracavity optical filter. The tuning range can be limited either by restrictions of phase matching (see below), or by the transparency region of the nonlinear material or by the spectral region with high reflectivity of the resonator mirrors.
• The parametric amplification occurs only in the direction of the pump beam (as another consequence of phase matching), which means that a unidirectional operation in a ring resonator is automatically obtained. (In fact, ring resonators are often used, due to various advantages, see below.)
• No heat is deposited in the nonlinear crystal, unless there is some parasitic absorption at the pump, signal or idler wavelength. As OPOs are mostly operated with all wavelengths involved lying well within the transparency region, there is normally not much heating. Only at fairly high power levels may a disturbance of the phase-matching conditions occur. Thermal lensing is significant only at very high power levels.
• An idler wave is generated, which carries away the difference between the generated signal power and the absorbed pump power. (Only in the rarely used case of degenerate parametric oscillation, is there no idler wave.) More precisely, the photon energy of the idler wave is the difference in the photon energies of the pump and signal. The idler wave plays an essential role in the nonlinear conversion process; when an OPO is operated in a spectral region with strong idler absorption in the crystal, the threshold pump power can be much higher, and the efficiency lower.
• No energy is stored in the nonlinear crystal. Therefore, the gain is present only as long as the pump wave is there, and pump fluctuations directly affect the signal power. The dynamics are therefore different to laser dynamics.
• Other than the fluorescence of a laser gain medium, parametric fluorescence occurs only in the direction of the pump beam. More precisely, it is observed in those modes which experience parametric gain.

Technical Details

Wavelength Tuning

OPOs are often used as widely wavelength-tunable light sources. Wavelength tuning can achieved in different ways, which have different limitations in terms of the achievable tuning range:

• Phase matching usually needs to be manipulated to cover the full tuning range (except for very narrow-band tuning). This can be done in different ways; some typical methods are:
  • One can strongly impact phase matching through temperature changes of the nonlinear crystal. Temperature tuning, however, is relatively slow.
  • Much faster tuning is possible with changes of the phase-matching angle (angle tuning). That, however, introduces additional constraints on the resonator design: The resonator needs to stay well aligned over the full angular range.
  • Quasi-phase matching introduces additional options, e.g. translating a crystal with transversely varying poling period.
  • The pump source may be wavelength-tuned, but a wavelength tunable pump laser is of course tentatively more complex and expensive.
• For fine tuning within the phase-matching bandwidth, one may apply an additional tunable bandpass filter in the resonator, as it is also typically used within a tunable laser. In some cases, one also uses resonator length tuning with a piezo-actuated mirror.

Note that the achievable wavelength range can also be limited by additional factors:

• The resonator mirrors, which are typically dielectric mirrors, need to have suitable reflectivity is over the desired wavelength range — mostly at the signal wavelength, but possibly also concerning the idler.
• The transparency range of the nonlinear crystal used can also be a limiting factor. Note that one does not only require higher transmission for the signal, but also for the idler wave. (One may operate an OPO in the wavelength region with substantial idler absorption, but that reduces the gain and leads to heating effects which affect the phase matching.)

Singly Resonant Versus Doubly Resonant OPOs

Most OPOs are singly resonant, i.e., they have a resonator which is resonant at either the signal or the idler wavelength, but not for both. (For the non-resonant wave, dichroic resonator mirrors or some polarizing optics lead to high resonator losses, so that there is very little optical feedback.) However, there are also doubly resonant OPOs, where both signal and idler are resonant. The latter makes sense only with a single-frequency pump laser.

The advantage of doubly resonant OPOs is that the threshold pump power can be much lower. This is interesting particularly for continuous-wave operation. However, the tuning behavior is complicated: when the crystal temperature or pump wavelength is changed, the signal and idler wavelengths undergo jumps, and the tuning is generally non-monotonous. This is because the operation wavelengths are determined primarily by the requirement for simultaneous resonance for signal and idler (mode clusters), and not only by a phase-matching condition.

Another possibility is resonant enhancement of the pump wave, which is sometimes applied when the pump laser is a single-frequency device. In a triply resonant OPO, pump, signal and idler waves are resonant at the same time. Such a device is delicate to operate, however. A simpler option is to make an intracavity pumped OPO, where the nonlinear crystal is placed within the resonator of the pump laser, exploiting the high intracavity power.

Linear and Ring Resonators

OPOs can be built either with linear (standing-wave) or ring resonators. The choice of resonator type can have various implications:

• A linear resonator is often easier to build and align. This is particularly so in cases where a compact setup for a short resonator round-trip time is required. However, there are highly compact monolithic ring resonators where alignment is also no problem.
• A ring resonator may require larger angles of incidence on curved resonator mirrors, which can cause problems with astigmatism.
• The parametric gain occurs only in the direction of the pump light. Therefore, the backward path in a linear resonator does not provide additional amplification, but only parasitic power losses. The obtainable threshold power and power conversion efficiency are therefore often higher with a ring resonator.
• A linear resonator can cause substantial back-reflection of pump light into the laser source, which in some cases would destabilize that laser even when a Faraday isolator is used.

Pumping of OPOs

There are basically three different options for pumping optical parametric oscillators:

• For continuous-wave operation, an OPO can be pumped with a (possibly frequency-doubled) continuous-wave laser (see e.g. [16]). The threshold pump power for singly-resonant OPOs (see above) is relatively high – usually at least a few watts, sometimes below 1 W. Some doubly-resonant OPOs can be continuously pumped with only a few tens of milliwatts.
• Most OPOs are pumped with nanosecond pulses from a Q-switched laser. In this mode, it is easy to overcome the threshold even of a singly-resonant OPO. The output pulses are often slightly shorter than the pump pulses, since parametric oscillation sets in with some delay. The output linewidth is often relatively large, and the pulse-to-pulse fluctuations are significant, since a pulsed OPO often has insufficient time during a pulse to settle to the steady state, and is thus relatively strongly influenced by noise [21].
• For generating ultrashort pulses, an OPO can be synchronously pumped with a mode-locked laser. For synchronous pumping, the length of the OPO resonator is usually adjusted such that the resonator round-trip frequency matches the pulse repetition rate of the pump. (In rare cases, the resonator frequency is a multiple or some fraction of the pump repetition frequency.) During many resonator round trips, the pulses generated reach a steady state, and the noise can be relatively weak. The pulse duration is usually comparable to the pump pulse duration, but may under certain conditions (with significant group velocity mismatch) be significantly shorter than that [22]. Due to the low duty cycle of typical mode-locked lasers, the required average pump power can be well below 1 W.

In most cases, the pump light for an OPO comes either directly from some near-infrared laser or from a frequency doubler, generating e.g. green light. In less common cases, OPOs are pumped with ultraviolet or mid-infrared light.

Types of OPOs

The following list shows that there is a wide variety of OPOs:

• Continuous-wave OPOs are usually based on highly nonlinear crystal materials such as periodically poled LiNbO3 [16] or KTP, pumped e.g. with a 1-μm ytterbium-doped laser, or with a frequency doubled solid-state laser. Single-frequency operation concerning the OPO output is possible, in the case of a singly resonant OPO even if the pump source is not single-frequency.
• Other continuous-wave OPOs, particularly those for very high output power, are intracavity pumped. The nonlinear crystal is then placed within the laser resonator of typically a neodymium-based high-power laser.
• The most typical OPOs are singly-resonant and pumped with an actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. They emit nanosecond pulses with microjoule or millijoule pulse energies in the near- or mid-infrared region. For operation at relatively long wavelengths, one sometimes uses tandem OPOs, where a first OPO does a wavelength conversion from the 1-μm to the 2-μm region, and its output is used for pumping a mid-IR OPO (e.g. based on ZGP).
• Typical synchronously pumped OPOs have a picosecond or femtosecond mode-locked laser as a pump source, such as a 1-μm neodymium-doped laser or a titanium–sapphire laser. Their average pump power is between a few hundred milliwatts and a few watts, the pulse repetition rate is between 100 MHz and 1 GHz, and the power conversion efficiency is of the order of 30–50%.
• The high parametric gain achievable with intense ultrashort pulses allows the construction of fiber-feedback OPOs, where the OPO resonator contains a single-mode fiber [25, 29]. Such devices have some practical benefits, such as a remarkable insensitivity to resonator length changes.
• Sync-pumped OPOs with extremely high pulse repetitions rates of higher than 80 GHz have been demonstrated [27]. Here, the challenge is that the average pump threshold power scales linearly with the pulse repetition rate, whereas high average powers are most difficult to obtain from passively mode-locked lasers when high repetition rates are also required. Therefore, a MOPA pump source is required for extremely high repetition rates.
• Less common are fiber OPOs, based on the ($\chi^{(3)}$) nonlinearity of an optical fiber rather than the ($\chi^{(2)}$) of a crystal. Earlier fiber OPOs often had a pump wavelength near the signal and idler wavelengths and were interesting mainly for telecom applications. Using photonic crystal fibers with special chromatic dispersion properties, one can obtain output in very wide wavelength regions [32, 33]. Similar ($\chi^{(3)}$)-based OPOs can be realized with other types of waveguides.

Applications of OPOs

The potential application areas of OPOs are very diverse. Some examples are:

• Laser spectroscopy and many other scientific applications can profit from the ability of OPOs to cover very wide spectral regions, and to deliver outputs with narrow linewidth and high power.
• A common military application is the generation of broadband high-power light in the 3–5-μm region for blinding heat-seeking missiles when they attack airplanes (infrared countermeasures).
• An OPO can be part of a high-power RGB source as used for, e.g., digital projection displays.

Problems for Commercial Realization

Despite their amazing capabilities, as demonstrated in years of interesting research, optical parametric oscillators have so far found only limited use in commercial products. Some of the reasons for this are briefly discussed in the following:

• Containing at least some pump laser and an OPO, and possibly a temperature-stabilized crystal oven, parametric oscillator systems are more complex than pure laser systems and correspondingly expensive.
• The requirement for phase matching makes the operation of nonlinear conversion stages more delicate than e.g. laser gain media, which are usually more forgiving e.g. in terms of crystal temperature. OPOs requiring a temperature-stabilized oven for the crystal are certainly less attractive for many applications due to the complexity, turn-on time, heat dissipation, etc.
• Some nonlinear crystal materials are hygroscopic, others are subject to gray tracking (i.e., increasing parasitic losses), and some are difficult to obtain with robust anti-reflection coatings (e.g. due to non-isotropic thermal expansion).
• Finally, a detailed understanding of nonlinear optics and particularly the physics of parametric amplification is not very widespread in the laser industry.

Related Articles

Suppliers

Sponsored content: The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 38 suppliers for optical parametric oscillators. Among them:

⚙ hardware

For researchers demanding a wide tuning range, high conversion efficiency and narrow linewidth, EKSPLA optical parametric oscillators/amplifiers are an excellent choice. All models feature hands-free wavelength tuning, a protection system for valuable optical components as well as a wide range of accessories and extension units.

Our long-term experience and close cooperation with scientific institutions made it possible to create a range of models, offering probably the widest tuning range: from 193 nm to 16000 nm. Versions offering near transform-limited linewidth as well as operating at kilohertz repetition rates are available.

⚙ hardware

Cavity configurations provide an effective method for enhancing nonlinear frequency conversion. HCP offers a wide range of optical parametric oscillator (OPO) solutions, including both commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems and fully customizable platforms. It could be built up as external pump OPO (EP-OPO), Intra-cavity OPO (IC-OPO), intra-cavity SFG (IC-SFG), intra-cavity DFG (IC-DFG) etc. Systems can be designed with fixed or broadly tunable output wavelengths, and support both fiber-coupled and free-space formats at input/output. Example applications include generating NIR signal wavelengths between 1.4–2 μm and MIR idler wavelengths between 2.3–4.5 μm.

⚙ hardware

The Peacock 532 is the first of a series of nanosecond optical parametric oscillators and pump lasers integrated on a single platform, which can be easily inserted into a complex system. Tunability from 680 nm to 2200 nm, up to 30 Hz, real time output energy control, fully automated, 19" rack mountable … all these features makes the Peacock a perfect tool for all demanding applications in the medical, biotechnology or medical fields.

⚙ hardware

GWU-Lasertechnik is the pioneer of commercial BBO-OPOs. We introduced the first device worldwide in 1989! More than 30 years of experience in lasers, nonlinear optics and manufacturing condenses in matured, highly reliable devices. Our widely tunable pulsed laser sources cover the spectral range from the deep-UV at <190 nm to the IR at >2700 nm continuously. The scanSeries nanosecond OPO product line offers scalable pulse energy at various repetition rates. As a unique feature, GWU can provide high-speed wavelength scanning across the complete wavelength range with shot-to-shot dynamic. Our all-solid-state laser design ensures maximum reliability for diode-pumped and flash-lamp pumped lasers with excellent performance and longest lifetime.

⚙ hardware

The TOPO smart is a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator which uses a novel pumping scheme to reduce size and cost relative to typical CW OPOs. It fills a price and capability gap in the mid-IR between low power, narrowly tunable interband cascade lasers, and high power, widely tunable CW OPOs like the TOPO.

⚙ hardware

Serving North America, RPMC Lasers offers a range of optical parametric oscillators (OPO), providing wavelengths from 210 nm up to 4500 nm. The Q-TUNE Series is a tunable laser integrating an OPO for a range of 210–2300 nm. The Q-TUNE-IR extends this with a high peak power light source for infrared spectroscopy, offering a tunable wavelength in the 1380–4500 nm range. The Q-TUNE-G is designed for photoacoustic imaging and non-linear spectroscopy, with a tunable range of 680–2100 nm. All series feature air-cooling, self-optimization, self-calibration, and low power consumption. Standard and custom options available. Let RPMC help you find the right laser today!

⚙ hardware

The Stuttgart Instruments Alpha is an ultrafast and fully wavelength-tunable frequency conversion system in an ultra-compact and completely passively stable system based on revolutionary parametric oscillator design which guarantees outstanding stability, reproducibility and shot-noise limited performance.

The revolutionary design of Stuttgart Instruments Alpha, characterized by outstanding low noise and passive long-term stability, is based on the fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator (FFOPO) technology and results in outstanding performance and high flexibility at the same time.

The Alpha covers a gap-free rapid tunable spectral range from 700 nm to 20 µm wavelengths, while maintaining high output power up to the Watt-level with femto- or picosecond pulses at several MHz pulse repetition rates. It provides multiple simultaneously tunable outputs with a selectable bandwidth from a few to 100 cm-1. Shot-noise limited performance above 300 kHz, passive spectral stability (< 0.02% rms) and wavelength-independent stable beam pointing (< 30 µrad) enable excellent sensitivity. In addition, each Alpha is equipped with a user-friendly ethernet and Wi-Fi interface and a matching graphical user interface (GUI) as well as easy to access API interfaces for e.g. LabView, Python, C++.

Typically, the Alpha is pumped by an ultra-low-noise Primus pump laser, which provides more than 8 W average output power at 1040 nm wavelength and 450 fs pulse duration at 42 MHz repetition rate. In addition, the Alpha can be operated with other pump lasers around 1 µm wavelength and enough power.

Due to our modular platform, the Alpha can be adapted and optimized for various applications and is particularly suited for spectroscopic applications requiring a robust and reliable tunable radiation with low noise.

⚙ hardware

HÜBNER Photonics offer the C-WAVE tunable laser series. These are widely tunable continuous wave (cw), single frequency laser light sources based on optical parametric oscillator (OPO) technology. They are tunable from 450 nm to 3500 nm with powers up to 1 W. Ideal for all cutting edge research from nanophotonics to quantum.

⚙ hardware

One of the most common uses of PPLN is in an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO). Nd:YAG pumped OPOs based on PPLN can efficiently produce tunable light at wavelengths between 1.3 and 5 μm and can even produce light at longer wavelengths but with lower efficiency. The PPLN OPO can produce output powers of several watts and can be pumped with pulsed or CW pump lasers.

Covesion offers a variety of free space bulk crystal solutions for multi-pass OPO to generate mid-IR wavelengths from visible and near-IR pump lasers for applications such as mid-IR spectroscopy and environmental monitoring.

Our custom capabilities include:

• multiple grating, chirped or fan-out designs
• tailored AR coatings
• custom grating periods and apertures
• broad mid-IR coverage
• compatibility with both CW and pulsed lasers

⚙ hardware

APE offers a wide range of ultrafast optical parametric oscillators (OPOs), which can be pumped with 1-μm lasers or with Ti:sapphire lasers. Wide wavelength regions in the near and mid-IR can be addressed, pulse durations in the picosecond or femtosecond region are available, and pulse repetition rates can be in the megahertz or gigahertz region.

The wavelength ranges can be easily expanded down to the ultraviolet/visible (via APEs SHG/THG/FHG devices) and up to 15 µm (via APEs DFG devices).

⚙ hardware

A broad range of Optical Parametric Oscillators (OPOs) are manufactured by Radiantis. Covering the spectral range across the UV, visible and IR, Radiantis products operate in the picosecond, femtosecond and continuous-wave (CW) regimes.

Bibliography

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