Calculation of the photon-anticorrelation effect in a degenerate optical parametric amplifier

If two initially coherent light fields with the frequencies ω and 2ω, which have been produced by a second harmonic generator, pass a degenerate parametric amplifier photon-anticorrelation effects can develop. We calculate the time-development of the photon distribution for the signal wave by treating both fields quantum mechanically.     

Quantum statistics of the degenerate parametric amplifier

From the quantum mechanics and the quantum optics point of view the problem of the time-dependent Hamiltonian which describes the degenerate parametric amplifier is presented. Under a certain integrability condition the solution of the Heisenberg equations of motion is given. The wave function for both the Schrödinger picture and quasi-coherent states, as well as the Green's function is obtained. The Glauber second order correlation function, and the squeezing and higher order squeezing is examined. The quasi-probability distribution function is also considered.     

Electromagnetically induced transparency in degenerate two-level systems

The evolution of an electromagnetic wave with slowly varying polarization, which interacts resonantly with the medium formed by degenerate two-level atoms, is studied using the wave function approach under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency. It is shown that the amplitude of the wave field propagates at the velocity of light in such a medium. The equation obtained for the polarization parameter has a solution in the form of a simple wave. The breaking length is determined. It is shown that the velocity of propagation of polarization waves may be much smaller than the velocity of light. The proposed approach is common for two-level systems with an arbitrary degeneracy. The case of a system with Zeeman degeneracy is analyzed in detail. The dependence of the velocity of propagation of the polarization structure on the amplitude and polarization is determined for an arbitrary level degeneracy. The evolution of the polarization structure in such a medium is discussed.     

Electromagnetically induced transparency-like transmission in periodically poled lithium niobate with a defect

Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like transmission is observed in an electro-optic (EO) tunable periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) with a central defect. When an electric field is applied, light satisfying the phase matching condition keeps its original polarization, although it experiences polarization rotation then turns back. Therefore the corresponding light always may pass though freely but with an EO tunable phase and dispersion. On the other hand, light with a neighboring wavelength is blocked. An EIT-like spectrum is thus obtained with tunable group delay. A low-voltage bulk phase shifter with over two orders of magnitude larger index change is obtained.     

Production of squeezed states in a degenerate parametric amplifier

An analysis of the degenerate parametric amplifier including the quantisation of pump and signal modes is presented. It is shown that the fluctuations in one quadrature of the signal mode may be reduced at most by a factor of two. This is in contradistinction to analyses where the pump field is treated classically which overestimate the reduction in fluctuations possible.     

A degenerate three-level laser with a parametric amplifier

The aim of this paper is to study the squeezing and statistical properties of the light produced by a degenerate three-level laser whose cavity contains a degenerate parametric amplifier. In this quantum optical system the top and bottom levels of the three-level atoms injected into the laser cavity are coupled by the pump mode emerging from the parametric amplifier. For a linear gain coefficient of 100 and for a cavity damping constant of 0.8, the maximum intracavity squeezing is found at steady state and at threshold to be 93%.     

Group-velocity-dispersion-compensated femtosecond optical parametric amplifier

A tilted pulse front geometry is known to allow group-velocity-dispersion (GVD) compensated propagation of short pulses of different wavelengths in dispersive media. This scheme is shown to be applicable to an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) pumped at 450nm. A numerical calculation shows that a certain combination of the tilt of the pulse front and the angle between the interacting beams provides optimum GVD compensation for each wavelength. The parameters providing broadband tunability are identified. The tunability of the GVD-compensated OPA pumped with 55fs pulses was experimentally demonstrated between 545nm and 645nm. This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Self-phase-locked degenerate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrated a stable degenerate synchronously pumped femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (SPOPO) as a divide-by-2 subharmonic generator. The SPOPO exhibited passive all-optical self-phase-locking between the pump and signal/idler and thus required no external electronic feedback to produce the phase-locked subharmonic. We employed a type I phase-matched, 1-mm-long, periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 crystal as the nonlinear gain element and an 80 MHz mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser with 180 fs pulses tuned at 775 nm as the pump. The SPOPO generated transform-limited 70 fs phase-locked output pulses centered at 1550 nm. The self-phase-locking operation was confirmed by separate beat-note measurement techniques with respect to the pump laser and with respect to an external cw laser.     

Stripe patterns in degenerate optical parametric oscillators

We experimentally demonstrate the stripe (or roll) patterns in a broad-aperture degenerate optical parametric oscillator in a plane-mirror minicavity. The stabilization of stripes is achieved by seed injection at a subharmonic frequency. We measure the temporal spectra of the stripe pattern and obtain the 1/f-like noise spectra.     

Pulse compression and gain enhancement in a degenerate optical parametric amplifier based on aperiodically poled crystals

We describe theoretically a method of obtaining pulse compression and simultaneously improving amplification in a degenerate optical parametric amplifier by use of quasi-phase-matched engineered crystals. The scheme combines the possibility of increasing the signal spectral bandwidth that is offered by a degenerate parametric amplifier with the ability of engineered aperiodically poled crystals to compensate for group-velocity mismatch.     

Coherent effect of triple-resonant optical parametric amplification inside a cavity with injection of a squeezed vacuum field

In theory, we study the quantum tluctuatlons ot tlae suDllarmonlc renecteu nela Irom a ulplc-rc~ulltUtt IdU~ClIClatC optical parametric amplifier （OPA） inside an optical cavity. We discuss two cases, where the linewidth of the harmonic field is either much narrower or broader than the subharmonic field. Since an electromagnetically-induced-transparency （EIT）-like effect can be simulated in a triple-resonant OPA, the output spectra from a triple-resonant OPA with a squeezed vacuum input may simulate the phenomenon of the response of an EIT medium for squeezed states. This scheme can be implemented with present experimental setups.     

AOPDF-shaped optical parametric amplifier output in the visible

Time shaping of ultra-short visible pulses has been performed using a specially designed acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter of 50% efficiency at the output of a two-stage non-collinear optical parametric amplifier. The set-up is compact and reliable. It provides a tunable shaped source in the visible with unique features: a 4-ps shaping window with preserved tunability over 500–650 nm, and pulses as short as 30 fs. Several-μJ output energy is easily obtained.     

Polarization effect in parametric amplifier

Polarization effect in parametric amplifiers is studied. Coupled equations are derived from the basic propagation equations and numerical solutions are given for both one-wavelength-pump and two-wavelengthpump systems. Several parametric amplifiers driven by pumps at one wavelength and two wavelengths are analyzed and the polarization independent parametric amplifier is proposed.     

Quantum images in non degenerate optical parametric oscillators

Quantum images, that is inhomogeneous field distributions purely generated by quantum fluctuations, persist when passing from the degenerate to the non-degenerate case of optical parametric oscillators (OPO). Below the threshold for parametric oscillation where the near-field distributions are homogeneous both in intensity and phase, appropriate spatial correlation functions anticipate the transverse spatial pattern that appears above threshold. In particular, the angular dependence of the far field spatial correlation function is able to reveal the travelling-wave nature of the phase pattern above threshold typical of nondegenerate OPOs. Cross-correlation functions between signal and idler intensities show clear evidence of the non-classical nature of the output light. Received 8 October 1999     

参量放大器腔中光力诱导透明与本征模劈裂性质

研究了在含有光学参量放大器的光力学腔中关于弱探测光的光力诱导透明与本征模劈裂的性质.研究发现,光学参量放大器的驱动场相位和非线性增益值的大小对光力诱导透明窗口宽度和本征模劈裂性质有非常重要的影响,特别是当控制光频率工作在光力学红边带下,通过适当调制相位和非线性增益可以实现比空腔时(没有光学参量放大器时)还狭窄的光力诱导透明窗口,此时伴随着陡峭的色散曲线.这些研究结果有利于在光力耦合系统中实现快慢光、光存储等量子信息处理过程.     

High-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier in the mid-infrared

We discuss a dual-stage optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier generating sub-100-fs pulses in the mid-infrared at a repetition rate of 100 kHz. The system is based on a 1064 nm pump laser and a 3–4 μm difference frequency generation seed source derived from the output of a femtosecond fiber laser amplifier. Both lasers are commercially available, are diode-pumped, compact, and allow for turn-key operation. Here, we focus our discussion on the design and dimensioning of the optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier. In particular, we review the available gain materials for mid-infrared generation and analyze the impact of different stretching scenarios. Timing jitter plays an important role in short-pulse parametric amplifier systems and is therefore studied in detail. The geometry of the amplifier stages is optimized through a full 3-dimensional simulation with the aim of maximizing gain bandwidth and output power. The optimized system yields output pulse energies exceeding 1 μJ and an overall gain larger than 50 dB. The high repetition rate of the pump laser results in an unprecedented average power from a femtosecond parametric system at mid-infrared wavelengths. First experimental results confirm the design and the predictions of our theoretical model.     

简并光学参量振荡器混沌反控制

提出一种实现简并光学参量振荡器混沌反控制的方法，用正弦信号调制简并光学参量振荡器的基模衰减率，使简并光学参量振荡器从定态输出转化为混沌态.数值模拟结果表明，选择不同的调制幅度和调制角频率，只要满足系统的最大李雅谱诺夫指数大于零，即可实现不同的混沌轨道重构.通过比较最大李雅谱诺夫指数λ_max随调制幅度和调制角频率变化曲线， 指出系统从周期态调制到混沌态比从无亚谐波输出的定态调制到混沌态更容易，有更宽的调制幅度和调制角频率选择范围. 关键词： 简并光学参量振荡器 混沌反控制 调制     

Microlaser-pumped periodically poled lithium niobate optical parametric generator-optical parametric amplifier

For what is believed to be the first time, a single-longitudinal-mode passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microlaser is used to pump a narrow-bandwidth periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) optical parametric generator-optical parametric amplifier (OPG-OPA). Before amplification in the OPA, the output of the OPG stage was spectrally filtered with an air-spaced etalon, resulting in spectroscopically useful radiation (bandwidth, ~0.05 cm(-1) FWHM) that was tunable in 15-cm(-1) segments anywhere in the signal range 6820-6220 cm(-1) and the idler range 2580-3180 cm(-1). The ability to pump an OPG-OPA with compact, high-repetition-rate, intrinsically narrow-bandwidth microlasers is made possible by the high gain of PPLN. The result is a tunable light source that is well suited for use in portable spectroscopic gas sensors.     

Interaction of cavity solitons in degenerate optical parametric oscillators

Numerical studies, together with asymptotic and spectral analysis, establish regimes in which soliton pairs in degenerate optical parametric oscillators fuse, repel, or form bound states. A novel bound state that is stabilized by coupled internal oscillations is predicted.