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Optics Letters

Optical parametric oscillators pumped by population-trapped atoms

Stephen E. Harris, Maneesh Jain

Published May 1, 1997• 39 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe an optical parametric oscillator that is pumped by population-trapped atoms that are prepared with maximum coherence. The oscillator is based on the use of an effective nonlinear susceptibility that is of the same order as the linear susceptibility. Because the parametric gain is obtained in a single coherence length, the gain bandwidth can exceed the degenerate frequency. In Pb vapor the calculated gain is maximized at 1.88 microm and has a bandwidth of ~7500 cm(-1).

DOI
10.1364/ol.22.000636

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•Mar 1, 2009•0 citations
We describe an optical parametric oscillator that is pumped by population-trapped atoms that are prepared with maximum coherence. The oscillator is based on the use of an effective nonlinear susceptibility that is of the same order as the linear susceptibility. Because the parametric gain is obtained in a single coherence length, the gain bandwidth can exceed the degenerate frequency. In Pb vapor the calculated gain is maximized at 1.88 microm and has a bandwidth of ~7500 cm(-1).
Temporal dissipative solitons are central to nonlinear photonics, yet conventional platforms such as optical fibers and microresonators provide limited dispersion tunability and weak nonlinearities. Here, we demonstrate a highly tunable soliton platform based on atom–light interactions in a rubidium vapor optical parametric oscillator. A continuous-wave pump drives four-wave mixing in the vapor, generating probe and conjugate fields, one of which is fed back through a fiber loop to form the oscillator. By tuning the pump intensity and detuning, we control the dispersive properties and third-order nonlinearity of the medium, enabling the formation of diverse nonlinear states including bright and dark solitons, soliton crystals, dark–bright soliton pairs, platicons, and breather solitons. Unlike conventional systems, solitons emerge spontaneously without cavity scanning or pulsed excitation. The system isolates gain, dispersion, and nonlinearity within the atomic medium, allowing flexible cavity-length tuning without modifying other operating parameters. We introduce the technique of characterizing the solitonic states through the linewidth of the output intensity power spectrum, which remains independent of cavity length and is limited only by the experimental apparatus, indicating a high degree of phase coherence. This contrasts with conventional mode-locked states, for which the linewidth scales inversely with the square of the cavity length. With pulse durations of ∼100 ns determined by the gain bandwidth of the four-wave mixing, the solitons can be directly detected for rapid and complete characterization. This platform offers a versatile route for exploring nonlinear optical dynamics and developing applications in quantum photonics and communication.
Summary form only given. Previously, we have used four-wave mixing via coherent population trapping to achieve optical phase conjugation (OPC) with high gain, using two dye lasers and a sodium vapor cell. The /spl Lambda/ transition used involved the two hyperfine ground states and one excited state, so that two different optical frequencies were needed to satisfy the two-photon resonant condition between the probe and one of the pump beams. Later, we demonstrated in rubidium that a single hyperfine transition with Zeeman sublevels is enough to achieve OPC with equally high gain, thus eliminating the need for high-frequency sideband generation. However, in order to guarantee that the diffraction from the grating is primarily dispersive, the backward pump beam had to be detuned by about 60 MHz from the probe and the forward pump. One of the key disadvantages of such a nondegenerate scheme is that applications such as phase-conjugate mirrors are hard to implement. Here, we report the observation of optical phase conjugation in rubidium with equally high gain, but all the frequencies are degenerate.
The multimode operation of an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) operating below threshold is calculated. We predict that squeezing can be generated in a comb that is limited only by the phase matching bandwidth of the OPO. Effects of technical noise on the squeezing spectrum are investigated. It is shown that maximal squeezing can be obtained at high frequency even in the presence of seed laser noise and cavity length fluctuations. Furthermore the spectrum obtained by detuning the laser frequency off OPO cavity resonance is calculated.
Dynamical restrictions to the squeezing achievable by means of a degenerate optical parametric oscillator (OPO) are considered by quantum-statistical diagram techniques. We determine optimal pumping conditions which maximize the degree of squeezing in the output signal of the OPO. The maximal spectral squeezing in the OPO's output radiation is found to scale as ${\mathit{N}}_{2}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2/3}$ where N2{\mathit{N}}_{2}N2​ is the number of photons in the pump mode.
A concept for an ultra-broad-band optical parametric amplifier or oscillator has emerged as a by-product of a theoretical study in fundamental quantum optics. The study was originally intended to address the question of whether the two-photon temporal correlation function of light [in particular, light produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC)] can be considerably narrower than the inverse of the spectral width (bandwidth) of the light. The answer to the question was found to be negative. More specifically, on the basis of the universal integral relations between the quantum two-photon temporal correlation and the classical spectrum of light, it was found that the lower limit of two-photon correlation time is set approximately by the inverse of the bandwidth. The mathematical solution for the minimum two-photon correlation time also provides the minimum relative frequency dispersion of the down-converted light components; in turn, the minimum relative frequency dispersion translates to the maximum bandwidth, which is important for the design of an ultra-broad-band optical parametric oscillator or amplifier. In the study, results of an analysis of the general integral relations were applied in the case of an optically nonlinear, frequency-dispersive crystal in which SPDC produces collinear photons. Equations were found for the crystal orientation and pump wavelength, specific for each parametric-down-converting crystal, that eliminate the relative frequency dispersion of collinear degenerate (equal-frequency) signal and idler components up to the fourth order in the frequency-detuning parameter