INTRACAVITY 2ND-HARMONIC GENERATION IN A FABRY-PEROT RESONATOR - I - POLARIZATION EFFECTS

We study the polarization of the electric field in Fabry-Perot resonat ors which contain at least two optically birefringent elements. One of them is a frequency-doubling crystal, the other being either a passiv e and/or an active crystal. Using the Jones matrix technique, we revie w the polarization properties of the linear Fabry-Perot cavity and ext end these results to V-shaped cavities. For these configurations, we d erive the rate of conversion of the fundamental frequencies into the s econd harmonic and the sum frequencies. These conversion rates are int erpreted as intensity-dependent losses for the rate equations of the f undamental modes which are derived.