DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF A DOUBLY RESONANT OPTICAL PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR

Using a combination of computer modelling and experimental observation we have studied the dynamic behaviour of a doubly-resonant optical pa rametric oscillator (OPO). When pumped above threshold, it is observed that a finite time is required for the output of the OPO to be establ ished. Specifically, for a doubly-resonant OPO based on KTP with a cav ity length of 11 mm, pumped at 523 nm and phase-matched to give near d egenerate output, we observe a build-up time for the OPO output of the order of 1 mu s. The observations are in excellent agreement with our numerical modelling and can be attributed completely to the time requ ired for the OPO output to build-up from the parametric fluorescence.