SINGLY RESONANT OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATION IN PERIODICALLY POLED LITHIUM-NIOBATE WAVE-GUIDES

We report quasi-phase-matched singly resonant optical parametric oscil lation in electric-field-poled lithium niobate waveguides. Parametric gains as high as 250%/W, an oscillation threshold of 1.6 W (peak), idl er output powers of 220 mW, and a tuning range of 1180-2080 nm for pum p wavelengths of 756-772 nm have been observed. Pump depletion is limi ted to 40% because of the multiple launched transverse modes at the pu mp wavelength. We predict that fully optimized waveguide singly resona nt oscillators can have thresholds of similar to 100 mW, accessible to cw diode pumping. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America