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US 2018/0101085 A1Published application
Optical parametric oscillator for generating terahertz radiation
AssigneeMicrotech Instruments, Inc.
InventorsPatrick F. Tekavec, Vladimir G. Kozlov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical parameter oscillator (OPO) is pumped at pump wavelength λP to resonate at signal wavelength λS. The OPO produces idler radiation at terahertz frequencies νTHz=c/λP−c/λS. The pump, signal, and idler radiation are substantially collinear.
Claims21
An apparatus comprising:
- (a) an optical resonator comprising two or more mirrors and arranged so as to support one or more resonant optical modes at a specified signal wavelength;
- and
- (b) a nonlinear optical medium positioned within the resonator and arranged so as to provide optical parametric gain, when optically pumped with pump radiation, at a specified pump wavelength, that is substantially collinear with the one or more resonant optical modes in the nonlinear optical medium, for (i) signal radiation, at the specified signal wavelength, in the one or more resonant optical modes, and (ii) idler radiation, at a specified idler wavelength, that is substantially collinear with the one or more resonant optical modes,
- (c) wherein the nonlinear optical medium is further arranged so that the specified idler wavelength corresponds to an idler frequency, which corresponds to a difference frequency between the pump wavelength and the signal wavelength, between about 0.3 THz and about 10 THz.
1 more element
A method comprising optically pumping, with pump radiation at a specified pump wavelength, a nonlinear optical medium positioned within an optical resonator, thereby generating signal radiation and idler radiation that are substantially collinear with the pump radiation in the nonlinear optical medium, wherein:
- (a) the optical resonator comprises two or more mirrors and is arranged so as to support one or more resonant optical modes at a specified signal wavelength;
- (b) the nonlinear optical medium is arranged so as to provide optical parametric gain, when optically pumped with pump radiation, at a specified pump wavelength, that is substantially collinear with the one or more resonant optical modes in the nonlinear optical medium, for (i) signal radiation in the one or more resonant optical modes, and (ii) idler radiation that is substantially collinear with the one or more resonant optical modes;
- and
- (c) the nonlinear optical medium is further arranged so that the specified idler wavelength corresponds to an idler frequency, which corresponds to a difference frequency between the pump wavelength and the signal wavelength, between about 300 GHz and about 10 THz.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.