Preferred Label : optical parametric oscillator;
IUPAC acronym : OPO; BBO; YAG;
IUPAC definition : light source similar to a laser, but based on 'non-linear optical gain' from parametric
amplification rather than on stimulated emission.;
Scope note : this splitting of one photon into two photons is the reverse of the sum frequency
mixing used, for instance, to generate the 3rd harmonic of a laser emission by mixing
in a convenient crystal the fundamental and the frequency doubled beams (a way to
get the 3rd harmonic much more efficiently than by pure frequency tripling as described
under harmonic frequency generation).; for example, for ¿p 355nm(3rd harmonic of a nd:yag laser),¿s can be tuned from400nm(with
¿i 3.15µm) up to600nm(with ¿i 870nm).; the device is a powerful solid-state source of broadly tunable coherent radiation.
it consists of a crystal, usually bbo ( ba b2 o4 ),located
inside an optical resonator and pumped by a very intense laser beam (typically provided
by a pulsed neodymium laser or a diode laser). the pump beam (wavelength¿p frequency¿p)is
partially converted into two coherent beams, the signal and the idler, with wavelengths
(¿s,¿i) and frequencies (¿s,¿i) such that ¿s ¿i
¿p .by simultaneous rotation of the crystal and adjustment of the optical resonator,
the wavelength of the signal beam is continuously tunable, theoretically from ¿p to
2 ¿p and practically over a slightly more reduced range.;
Origin ID : OT07438;
See also
light source similar to a laser, but based on 'non-linear optical gain' from parametric
amplification rather than on stimulated emission.
