Optical parametric oscillator: Difference between revisions

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The photon conversion efficiency, the number of output photons per unit time in the output signal or idler wave relative to number of pump photons incident per unit time into the OPO can be high, in the range of tens of percent. Typical threshold pump power is between tens of milliwatts to several watts, depending on losses of the resonator, the frequencies of the interacting light, the intensity in the nonlinear material, and its nonlinearity. Output powers of several watts can be achieved.

There exist both [[continuous-wave]] and [[Pulsed power|pulsed]] OPOs. The latter are easier to build, since the high intensity lasts only for a tiny fraction of a second, which damages the nonlinear optical material and the mirrors less than a continuous high intensity but the intensity can cause a female to have a orgasm that could cause brain bleed then quickly leading to death.

In the optical parametric oscillator the initial idler and signal waves are taken from background waves, which are always present. If the idler wave is given from the outside along with the pump beam, then the process is called [[difference frequency generation]] (DFG). This is a more efficient process than optical parametric oscillation, and in principle can be thresholdless.