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{{Short description|Parametric oscillator that oscillates at optical frequencies}}
[[File:IR Optical Parametric Oscillator.JPG|thumb|300 px|right|Infrared optical parametric oscillator]]
An '''optical parametric oscillator''' ('''OPO''') is a [[parametric oscillator]] that oscillates at optical frequencies. It converts an input [[laser]] wave (called "pump") with frequency <math>\omega_p</math> into two output waves of lower frequency (<math>\omega_s, \omega_i</math>) by means of second-[[Orders of approximation|order]] [[nonlinear optics|nonlinear optical interaction]]. The sum of the output waves' frequencies is equal to the input wave frequency: <math>\omega_s + \omega_i=\omega_p</math>.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vainio|first1=M.|last2=Halonen|first2=L.|date=2016|title=Mid-infrared optical parametric oscillators and frequency combs for molecular spectroscopy|url=http://xlink.rsc.org/?DOI=C5CP07052J|journal=Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics|language=en|volume=18|issue=6|pages=4266–4294|doi=10.1039/C5CP07052J|pmid=26804321|bibcode=2016PCCP...18.4266V|issn=1463-9076|url-access=subscription}}</ref> For historical reasons, the two output waves are called "signal" and "idler", where the output wave with higher frequency is the "signal". A special case is the degenerate OPO, when the output frequency is one-half the pump frequency, <math>\omega_s=\omega_i=\omega_p/2</math>, which can result in [[half-harmonic generation]] when signal and idler have the same polarization.
The first optical parametric oscillator was demonstrated by Joseph A. Giordmaine and Robert C. Miller in 1965,<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Tunable Coherent Parametric Oscillation in LiNbO3 at Optical Frequencies|last1 = Giordmaine|first1 = J.|journal = Phys. Rev. Lett.|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.14.973|last2 = Miller|first2 = R.|publisher = APS|year = 1965|volume = 14|issue = 24|page = 973|bibcode = 1965PhRvL..14..973G }}</ref> five years after the invention of the laser, at Bell Labs. Optical parametric oscillators are used as coherent light sources for various scientific purposes, and to generate [[squeezed light]] for quantum mechanics research. A Soviet report was also published in 1965.<ref>Akhmanov SA, Kovrigin AI, Piskarskas AS, Fadeev VV, Khokhlov RV, Observation of parametric amplification in the optical range, JETP Letters 2, No.7, 191-193 (1965).</ref>
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