A STABILIZATION MECHANISM FOR OPTICAL PARAMETRIC FREQUENCY-DIVISION BASED ON INSERTION OF A 2ND-HARMONIC-GENERATION ELEMENT

A stabilization mechanism for optical parametric frequency division us ing intracavity second harmonic generation (SHG) is proposed. When the optical parametric oscillation is continuously tuned around the point of exact 3:2:1 pump:idler:signal frequency division, a resonant seedi ng from the idler wave significantly enhances the intracavity SHG whic h is designed to double the signal wave. As a result, the power output versus frequency of the signal wave follows a curve which exhibits a dip centered at the point of exact division, and techniques can be dev ised to use the shape of the curve for the purpose of stabilizing the optical frequency division.