Cavity length resonances in a nanosecond singly resonant optical parametric oscillator

Abstract

Resonant output energy enhancement in a singly resonant nondegenerate type-I optical parametric oscillator with a volume Bragg grating output coupler is demonstrated. The resonances occur when the pump laser and parametric oscillator cavity length ratio is an integer or a fraction of small integers. Although the length resonances are similar to those observed in doubly resonant optical parametric oscillators, the physical mechanism is distinctly different. The resonances in the singly resonant oscillator are caused by correlation of the instantaneous power between the quasi-periodic multimode pump laser beam and the OPO signal.