An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is a parametric oscillator that oscillates at optical frequencies. It converts an input laser wave (called "pump") with frequency into two output waves of lower frequency () by means of second-ordernonlinear optical interaction. The sum of the output waves' frequencies is equal to the input wave frequency: . For historic 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, .
The first optical parametric oscillator was demonstrated by Joseph Giordmaine and Bob Miller in 1965, 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 parametric oscillator is a driven harmonic oscillator in which the oscillations are driven by varying some parameter of the system at some frequency, typically different from the natural frequency of the oscillator. A simple example of a parametric oscillator is a child pumping a swing by periodically standing and squatting to increase the size of the swing's oscillations. The child's motions vary the moment of inertia of the swing as a pendulum. The "pump" motions of the child must be at twice the frequency of the swing's oscillations. Examples of parameters that may be varied are its resonance frequency and damping .
Parametric oscillators are used in several areas of physics. The classical varactor parametric oscillator consists of a semiconductor varactor diode connected to a resonant circuit or cavity resonator. It is driven by varying the diode's capacitance by applying a varying bias voltage. The circuit that varies the diode's capacitance is called the "pump" or "driver". In microwave electronics, waveguide/YAG based parametric oscillators operate in the same fashion. Another important example is the optical parametric oscillator, which converts an input laser light wave into two output waves of lower frequency ()
In addition to distributing the wide range of TOPTICA products manufactured in Germany, the North American location is responsible for the development and manufacture of optical isolators and continuous wave optical parametric oscillators (the TOPO).
That interaction, known as an optical parametric oscillation (OPO), produces two new wavelengths of light, called the idler and the signal ... Yi Sun et al, Advancing on-chip Kerr optical parametric ...
... clocks can be deployed outside the laboratory, no longer tethered to bulky optical equipment ... In practice, however, the method, known as optical parametric oscillation (OPO), is not always precise.
A special component in the setup, known as an optical parametric oscillator, was used to shift the comb teeth from the near-infrared to the mid-infrared colors absorbed by CO2. But the optical ...
The work, titled "Widely tunable and high resolution mid-infrared laser based on BaGa4Se7 optical parametric oscillator," was published in Frontiers of Optoelectronics.
Many of its scientists are working on CIMs, which are networks of optical parametric oscillators programmed to solve problems mapped to an Ising model, which typically represents combinatorial optimization problems.
... al., PRXQuantum (9.7)“ Experimental observation of chimera states in spiking neural networks based on degenerate optical parametric oscillators;” Timothée Leleu, et al., Communications Physics (6.5).
An optical parametric oscillator (OPO) is a device that can generate a wavelength-tunable laser beam, so it has been used to realize a color-tunable LG laser source—generally, in one of two ways.
The researchers had made the "exotic" choice, the photonic crystal, and developed the first Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) operating at room temperature with a microwatt-level continuous wave pump.
In previous work, the team demonstrated that this conversion process, known as optical parametric oscillation, can occur within a silicon nitride microresonator, a ring-shaped device small enough to be fabricated on a chip.
... Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab who are studying Coherent Ising Machines (CIMs), which are networks of optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) programmed to solve problems mapped to an Ising model.
Researchers develop high-efficiency mid- and long-wave optical parametric oscillator pump source (2023, February 14) retrieved 14 February 2023 from https.//phys.org/news/2023-02-high-efficiency-mid-long-wave-optical-parametric.html.
into two output waves of lower frequency (
) by means of second-
. For historic 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, 
.
and damping 
. 
The Galveston Daily News
26 Sep 2023
The Galveston Daily News
26 Sep 2023