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[[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>. For historical reasons, the two output waves are called "signal" and "idler", where the output wave with higher frequency is called 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 Giordmaine and Bob Miller in 1965,<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.14.973|title = Tunable Coherent Parametric Oscillation in LiNbO3 at Optical Frequencies|last = Giordmaine|first = J.|journal = Phys. Rev. Lett.|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevLett.14.973|pmid = |access-date = |last2 = Miller|first2 = R.|publisher = APS|year = 1965|volume = 14|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.
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