Oscillation parametric

Light sources can either be broadband, such as a Globar, a Nemst glower, an incandescent wire or mercury arc lamp or they can be tunable, such as a laser or optical parametric oscillator (OPO). In the fomier case, a monocln-omator is needed to achieve spectral resolution. In the case of a tunable light source, the spectral resolution is detemiined by the linewidth of the source itself In either case, the spectral coverage of the light source imposes limits on the vibrational frequencies that can be measured. Of course, limitations on the dispersing element and detector also affect the overall spectral response of the spectrometer. 

In order to achieve a reasonable signal strength from the nonlinear response of approximately one atomic monolayer at an interface, a laser source with high peak power is generally required. Conuuon sources include Q-switched ( 10 ns pulsewidth) and mode-locked ( 100 ps) Nd YAG lasers, and mode-locked ( 10 fs-1 ps) Ti sapphire lasers. Broadly tunable sources have traditionally been based on dye lasers. More recently, optical parametric oscillator/amplifier (OPO/OPA) systems are coming into widespread use for tunable sources of both visible and infrared radiation. 

The OPA should not be confiised with an optical parametric oscillator (OPO), a resonant-cavity parametric device that is syncln-onously pumped by a femtosecond, mode-locked oscillator. 14 fs pulses, tunable over much of the visible regime, have been obtained by Hache and co-workers [49, with a BBO OPO pumped by a self-mode-locked Ti-sapphire oscillator. 

Gale G M, Cavallari M, Driscoll T J and Hache F 1995 Sub-20 fs tunable pulses in the visible from an 82 MHz optical parametric oscillator Opt. Lett. 20 1562—4... 

Hache F, Zeboulon A, Gallot G and Gale G M 1995 Cascaded second-order effects in the femtosecond regime in p-barium borate self-compression in a visible femtosecond optical parametric oscillator Opt. Lett. 20 1556-8... 

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) represent another tunable soHd-state source, based on nonlinear optical effects. These have been under development for many years and as of this writing (ca 1994) are beginning to become commercially available. These lasers may be tuned by temperature or by rotating a crystal. Models available cover a broad wavelength range in the visible and infrared portions of the spectmm. One commercial device may be tuned from 410 to 2000 nm. 

For the visible and near-ultraviolet portions of the spectmm, tunable dye lasers have commonly been used as the light source, although they are being replaced in many appHcation by tunable soHd-state lasers, eg, titanium-doped sapphire. Optical parametric oscillators are also developing as useful spectroscopic sources. In the infrared, tunable laser semiconductor diodes have been employed. The tunable diode lasers which contain lead salts have been employed for remote monitoring of poUutant species. Needs for infrared spectroscopy provide an impetus for continued development of tunable infrared lasers (see Infrared technology and RAMAN spectroscopy). 

Laser Photochemistry. Photochemical appHcations of lasers generally employ tunable lasers which can be tuned to a specific absorption resonance of an atom or molecule (see Photochemical technology). Examples include the tunable dye laser in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared portions of the spectmm the titanium-doped sapphire, Tfsapphire, laser in the visible and near infrared optical parametric oscillators in the visible and infrared and Line-tunable carbon dioxide lasers, which can be tuned with a wavelength-selective element to any of a large number of closely spaced lines in the infrared near 10 ]lni. 

Materials are also classified according to a particular phenomenon being considered. AppHcations exploiting off-resonance optical nonlinearities include electrooptic modulation, frequency generation, optical parametric oscillation, and optical self-focusing. AppHcations exploiting resonant optical nonlinearities include sensor protection and optical limiting, optical memory appHcations, etc. Because different appHcations have different transparency requirements, distinction between resonant and off-resonance phenomena are thus appHcation specific and somewhat arbitrary. 

Materials for Frequency Doubling. Second-order NLO materials can be used to generate new frequencies through second harmonic generation (SHG), sum and difference frequency mixing, and optical parametric oscillation (OPO). The first, SHG, is given in equation 3. 

DTGS = deuterated triglycine sulfate KRS — 5 = mixed thallium bromide-iodide LT = lithium tantalate MCT = mercury cadmium telluride and OPO = optical parametric oscillator. 

Abstract Optical Parametric Oscillators provide a very efficient source of tunable coherent radiation. The principle of different kinds of OPOs are described. OPOs are used in astronomy for Laser Guide Star systems, and they may be used for other nonlinear optics applications in astrophysics, such as frequency conversion or parametric amplification. 

Keywords optical parametric oscillators, nonlinear optics... 

Figure 1. Schematic representation of an Optical Parametric Oscillator...

It is well known that by inserting an optical amplifier obtained by population inversion in an optical cavity, one can realize sources of coherent radiations, namely lasers. One can operate in the same way with parametric amphfication as shown on Fig. 1. A nonlinear crystal illuminated by an input pump is inserted in an optical cavity. This cavity is represented for convenience as a ring cavity but consists usually of a linear cavity. An important difference with the laser is that there are three different fields, insfead of one, which are presenf in the amplifying medium, all these fields being able to be recycled by the cavity mirrors. One obtain thus different types of "Optical Parametric Oscillators" or OPOs. 

We have shown the different aspects of Optical Parametric Oscillators which explain the present interest for these sources, in fundamental as well as in applied physics. The very rapid development of compact, not power demanding sources including the pump laser and the OPO, should lead to an even wider use of such sources, in particular for industrial or medical applications. 

Optical parametric oscillator (OPO, see 20) is the real equivalent to the radio frequency shifter however OPO can be replaced by a simple addition of a local oscillator (e.g. laser) through a beam splitter. Multiplication takes place at the level of detectors. For sake of S5mimetry, detectors can be placed at both output of the beam splitter, the intermediate frequency is then the output of the differential amplifier. 

The dissociation laser light between 230 and 305 nm was produced by frequency doubling the output of an optical parametric oscillator (Spectra-Physics MOPO-730) pumped by an injection-seeded Nd YAG... 

For 2PA or ESA spectral measurements, it is necessary to use tunable laser sources where optical parametric oscillators/amplifiers (OPOs/OPAs) are extensively used for nonlinear optical measurements. An alternative approach, which overcomes the need of expensive and misalignment prone OPO/OPA sources, is the use of an intense femtosecond white-light continuum (WLC) for Z-scan measurements [71,72]. Balu et al. have developed the WLC Z-scan technique by generating a strong WLC in krypton gas, allowing for a rapid characterization of the nonlinear absorption and refraction spectra in the range of 400-800 nm [72]. 

Enhancement of x2 will lead to improvement (in terms of efficiency per interaction volume) in the following applications up-conversion in the visible or near U.V. of powerful I.R. laser radiation, frequency modulation of a laser carrier beam, optical parametric oscillation and amplification for solid state infrared tunable coherent devices. 

It should be stressed that nonlinear optical effects (particularly optical parametric oscillation) are very demanding in terms of material quality. 

Figure 4. Transparency and phase-matching curve for parametric oscillation of MA P.

We have described for a number of molecular single crystals the basic principles and techniques which were involved in the optimization of their nonlinear efficiency and crystalline quality. Certainly, other types of molecules or material processing techniques can be used. In particular, it could be worthwile to try and by-pass the difficulty of growing large single crystals for applications which are less demanding in terms of optical quality parametric oscillation. 

Goto E (1959) The parametron, a digital computing element which utilizes parametric oscillation. IEEE Trans Proc IRE 47 1304... 

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