Search

Microresonator frequency combs have seen remarkable progress in the past decade. In this work, we investigate optical parametric oscillation in a mm-sized cadmium silicon phosphide (CdSiP2) whispering gallery resonator for X(2) frequency comb generation in the mid-infrared region. The comb formation starts with optical parametric oscillation (OPO) near degeneracy followed by a series of internally pumped second-order nonlinear processes. The first step of OPO has been achieved with thresholds below 100 μW, efficiencies of up to 17 % and wavelength tunability from 2.3 to 5 μm. The control of the wavelength tuning is hampered when the OPO is operated close to degeneracy. Nevertheless, we have observed sideband generation around the pump wavelength, indicating that frequency combs can be generated using this scheme. However, improved control of the wavelength tuning near degeneracy is needed to increase the number of sidebands, leading to broadband frequency combs in the mid-infrared.

Whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) are ideally suited for the realization of miniaturized lasers. Due to their high quality factor and small mode volume, they allow for low-threshold and narrow-linewidth emission from (sub)millimeter-sized cavities made of laser-active materials. However, so far the majority of experimental realizations relies on expensive pump light sources like narrow-linewidth or pulsed laser systems, impeding most applications. We demonstrate two whispering-gallery-based single-frequency lasers pumped by compact spectrally multimode low-cost laser diodes. The spheroidally-shaped millemeter-sized WGRs are made of Pr:LiLuF4 and Nd:YVO4. They provide quality factors beyond 107 at the lasing wavelengths (640 nm and 1064 nm, respectively). The pump light is focused onto the rim of the WGR. We observe single frequency emission at milliwatt output powers. The temporal stability of the output power and of the output frequency are determined to be ±1:5 % and ±30 MHz within 30 min, respectively. By changing the temperature of the cavity, we achieve mode-hop-free tuning exceeding 11 GHz.

A rather unknown method to perform optical frequency tuning is the adiabatic frequency conversion. But this method has some appealing advantages compared to conventional frequency conversion schemes, i. e. nonlinear- optical based ones: The internal conversion efficiency can reach unity even on a single-photon level. No threshold and no phase-matching conditions need to be fulfilled. Previous realizations of adiabatic frequency conversion suffer from short photon lifetimes, limited tuning range and challenging experimental setups. Here, we employ the Pockels effect for adiabatic frequency conversion (AFC) in a non-centrosymmetric ultrahigh-Q microresonator made out of lithium niobate. With a 70-μm-thick resonator we observe frequency shifts of more than 5 GHz by applying a moderate voltage of 20V. In contrast to former schemes our setup is considerably simplified and provides a linear electric-to-optical link that enables us to generate also arbitrary waveforms of frequency shifts. Furthermore, our presented conversion scheme is well-suited for on-chip fabrication. Volume fabrication and application of larger electric fields for reasonable voltages become possible. By doing this, it is feasible to achieve tuning on the order of hundreds of GHz.

Whispering gallery resonators made out of crystalline materials exhibiting second-order nonlinearities enable frequency mixing such as optical parametric oscillation with high efficiency at low optical input powers and are ideally suited to realize versatile and compact optical frequency converters. Recent achievements stimulate this field further: Frequency conversion not only at a single wavelength or with few wavelengths is possible, entire frequency combs can be transferred into different spectral domains, e.g., allowing the realization of frequency combs in spectral regions that are suitable for multicomponent analytics like the mid-infrared region. Furthermore, these resonators are also supposed to be the ideal host for cascaded nonlinearities allowing the build-up of frequency combs based on second-order nonlinearities. All this comes with new and better schemes to tune whispering gallery resonators, providing advanced opportunities to modulate the laser wavelengths with nanosecond speed employing the Pockels effect. Juggling with light: We will summarize in the presentation these recent achievements, demonstrating that in the field of whispering gallery resonators still many discoveries are ahead of us.

Optical frequency combs are a key technology for optical precision measurements. So far, most frequency combs operate in the near-infrared regime (NIR). Many applications, however, require combs in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS) or mid-infrared (MIR) spectral ranges. This can be achieved by making use of nonlinear-optical processes. In this contribution, we demonstrate the efficient conversion of frequency combs with a repetition rate of 21 GHz to UV, VIS and MIR wavelengths in a synchronously driven high-Q microresonator with second-order optical nonlinearity. This opens up a new path for applications including, but not limited to, molecular sensing and quantum optics.

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) convert the frequency of laser light to almost arbitrary values. Nowadays, they serve as wavelength-agile light sources for spectroscopic applications as well as photon generators for quantum-optical experiments. Conventional OPOs are based on a nonlinear-optical crystal surrounded by a mirror cavity. Regarding the cavity, one often finds the following rule of thumb: the more waves are resonant, the lower is the oscillation threshold and the more difficult is the wavelength tuning. In whispering-gallery-resonator-based OPOs (WGR OPOs), light is guided by total internal reflection in a millimeter-sized spheroidally-shaped nonlinear-optical crystal. Thus, these devices are intrinsically triply resonant. Indeed, they provide microwatt-level oscillation thresholds, i.e., the lowest values of all OPO configurations. However, following the abovementioned rule, their applicability in fields beyond fundamental science might be questionable, because the most striking feature of an OPO, i.e., the wavelength tunability, is hampered. Nevertheless, several experimental studies revealed that the output wavelengths of WGR OPOs could be tuned in well-defined steps over hundreds of nanometers by temperature variation. Combined with strategies for mode-hop free tuning, it is possible, e.g., to tune the output wavelength in a controlled way until it meets MHz-wide resonances. This is sufficient for high-resolution spectroscopy. WGR OPOs are nowadays operated around various center frequencies, covering the visible-to-mid-infrared spectral range. These light sources - despite of their intrinsic triple resonance - might serve as compact and wavelength-agile devices for various applications.

We report lasing at 1064 nm in an LED-pumped high-Q whispering-gallery resonator (WGR) made from Nd:YVO4. A single LED is sufficient to achieve quasi-cw operation. Furthermore, self-pumped three-wave-mixing is demonstrated in high-Q WGRs made from laser-active lithium niobate. When pumping the resonator with a free-running laser diode without any external frequency stabilization, self-frequency doubling of the 1.08-μm laser line into the green spectral region is observed. With the application of quasi-phase matching techniques, the nonlinear optical processes can be selected at will, which enables compact and versatile self-pumped frequency synthesizers. As a proof-of-principle experiment, self-pumped optical parametric oscillation is demonstrated in a radially poled WGR made from neodymium-doped lithium niobate.

High-quality whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) made of AgGaSe2 and CdSiP2 bulk crystals are fabricated. With femtosecond laser matching and subsequent fine polishing, the intrinsic Q-factors of these resonators are approaching values of 106 to 107 . By adjusting the coupling condition, maximum coupling efficiencies of 60% and 30% for AgGaSe2 and CdSiP2 resonators could be obtained. In addition, thermal effects on the distortion of the mode spectra of these resonators are also investigated. The results in this work reveal great potentials of WGRs made of non-oxide crystals for mid infrared applications.

The tunability of cw optical parametric oscillators can be extended in the mid-infrared spectral range by using whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) made of non-oxide crystals. We demonstrate the fabrication of WGRs from silver gallium selenide, cadmium silicon phosphide and orientation-patterned gallium phosphide with quality factors above 106 . The resonators made of the first two provide optical parametric oscillation in the mid-infrared pumped by a compact laser diode at 1.57 μm wavelength. The wavelength tunability of the device based on silver gallium selenide provides a tuning range beyond 8 μm wavelength. These achievements are considered as the first steps of cw optical parametric oscillators into this important spectral region.

Whispering-gallery resonators (WGRs) are most promising for nonlinear-optical frequency-conversion due to their intensity enhancement by small mode volumes and high Q-factors. This has been shown frequently by millimeter-sized diamond-blade cut and polished bulk WGRs. For reproducible batch fabrication, however, the integration of WGRs into lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) substrates became of great interest. Here we report on integrated WGRs made by batch processes like lithography and reactive-ion etching. Since the Q-factor of integrated WGRs is limited by scattering losses, we focused on developing a polishing process for the waveguide sidewalls that allowed us to enhance the unloaded Q-factors already to more than 106 with room for further improvements. Furthermore we employ a coupling scheme with two waveguide chips, one comprising a linear coupling waveguide and one with the integrated WGR. By adjusting the distance between the coupling waveguide and the WGR, we can reproducibly and stably tune the coupling-efficiency between 0 and 95 %.

Broadband infrared spectroscopy employing optical parametric oscillation in bow-tie cavities, including a periodically- poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal, is well known. We demonstrate, however, that such spectroscopy is also possible using 2-mm-size monolithic whispering gallery resonators (WGRs). This is achieved in a radially-poled WGR by controlling wavelength tuning despite triple resonance of pump, signal, and idler light. Simulated and measured tuning characteristics of the Type-0 OPOs, pumped at about 1 μm wavelength, coincide. Tuning branches, which are crossed or curved at degeneracy, are present over a spectral range of up to 0.9 µm. As a proof-of-principle experiment, we show that all spectroscopic features of ethanol can be resolved using the idler light between 2.2 and 2.55 μm.

The absorption coefficient of undoped, congruently grown lithium niobate (LiNbO3) for ordinarily and extraordinarily polarized light is measured in the wavelength range from 390 to 2600 nm using whispering gallery resonators (WGRs). These monolithic cavities guide light by total internal reflection. Their high Q-factor provides several hundred meters of propagation for the coupled light in millimetre size resonators allowing for the measurement of absorption coefficients below 10-2 cm-1, where standard methods such as Fourier-transform or grating spectroscopy meet their limit. In this work the lowest measured value is 10-4 cm-1 at 1700 nm wavelength. Furthermore, the known OH- overtone at 1470 nm wavelength can be resolved clearly.

For second-order nonlinear-optical processes in the ultraviolet, appropriate materials with a sufficiently large band-gap typically exhibit smaller nonlinear coefficients than materials with comparably smaller band-gap. Whispering gallery resonators, with their outstanding quality factors, provide field enhancement and can compensate for these small coefficients. We report on the successful fabrication of a whispering gallery resonator made of lithium tetraborate, a suitable material for ultraviolet applications with a small nonlinear coefficient of d31 = 0:073 pm/V. Quality factors of the order of 108 are observed from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared spectrum. The inferred absorption coefficients of lithium tetraborate are below 0.2 m-1 in the visible and near-infrared. Continuous-wave second harmonic generation from 490 nm light to 245 nm is observed with conversion efficiencies up to 2.2 %.

Whispering gallery optical parametric oscillators are millimeter-sized monolithic sources for tunable coherent light. Several experiments have revealed that during optical parametric oscillation the pump resonance strongly differs from a Lorentzian shape. We theoretically and experimentally analyze these line-shape distortions. It turns out that the line shape of the pump resonance strongly depends on the coupling strength of the pump light and on the loss ratio between generated light and pump light. The line-widths, i.e. the losses, for the light generated by the parametric process can be deduced without measuring them directly.

We demonstrate the continuous-wave operation of a cascade that has been successfully applied so far only for picosecond systems: A doubly-resonant optical-parametric oscillator (OPO) based on lithium niobate generates signal and idler waves close to degeneracy. Subsequently, these two light fields are converted to a terahertz wave via difference frequency mixing in an orientation-patterned gallium arsenide crystal placed inside the OPO cavity. Using this scheme, we achieved tunability from 1 to 4:5 THz frequency, a linewidth smaller than 10 MHz, and a Gaussian beam profile. The output power is of the order of tens of μW, with a scalability into the milliwatt regime.

Whispering gallery optical parametric oscillators (WGR OPOs) are monolithic sources for tunable coherent and non-classical light. They are based on total internal reflection. Since reflection losses are negligible, their oscillation threshold can be far below one milliwatt. With sub-millimeter diameters, they are the most compact OPOs demonstrated so far. Recent experimental results demonstrate that WGR OPOs emit coherent light tunable over hundreds of nanometers. Operation in the visible as well as in the near-infrared has been demonstrated with up to 30 % conversion efficiency. These results indicate a great potential of WGR OPOs for spectroscopic and sensing applications.

Stability and footprint of optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) strongly depend on the cavity used. Monolithic OPOs tend to be most stable and compact since they do not require external mirrors that have to be aligned. The most straightforward way to get rid of the mirrors is to coat the end faces of the nonlinear crystal. Whispering gallery resonators (WGRs) are a more advanced solution since they provide ultra-high reflectivity over a wide spectral range without any coating. Furthermore, they can be fabricated out of nonlinear-optical materials like lithium niobate. Thus, they are ideally suited to serve as a monolithic OPO cavity. We present the experimental realization of optical parametric oscillators based on whispering gallery resonators. Pumped at 1 μm wavelength, they generate signal and idler fields tunable between 1.8 and 2.5 μm wavelength. We explore different schemes, how to phase match the nonlinear interaction in a WGR. In particular, we show improvements in the fabrication of quasi-phase-matching structures. They enable great flexibility for the tuning and for the choice of the pump laser.

Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) are known to be working horses for spectroscopy in the near- and mid-infrared. However, strong absorption in nonlinear media like lithium niobate complicates the generation of far-infrared light. This absorption leads to pump thresholds vastly exceeding the power of standard pump lasers. Our first approach was, therefore, to combine the established technique of photomixing with optical parametric oscillators. Here, two OPOs provide one wave each, with a tunable difference frequency. These waves are combined to a beat signal as a source for photomixers. Terahertz radiation between 0.065 and 1.018 THz is generated with powers in the order of nanowatts. To overcome the upper frequency limit of the opto-electronic photomixers, terahertz generation has to rely entirely on optical methods. Our all-optical approach, getting around the high thresholds for terahertz generation, is based on cascaded nonlinear processes: the resonantly enhanced signal field, generated in the primary parametric process, is intense enough to act as the pump for a secondary process, creating idler waves with frequencies in the terahertz regime. The latter ones are monochromatic and tunable with detected powers of more than 2 μW at 1.35 THz. Thus, continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators have entered the field of terahertz photonics.

Providing optical feedback by a resonator enhances the efficiency of nonlinear optical effects, e.g. frequency conversion. The bow-tie cavity is known to be a very successful scheme and it has made its way into the commercial world of second harmonic generation and parametric oscillation. We demonstrate a continuouswave optical parametric oscillator based on a bow-tie cavity converting monochromatic pump light at 1.03 μm wavelength to signal light being tunable from 1.25 to 1.85 μm and to corresponding idler light from 2.3 to 5.3 μm. We observe a signal power of up to 7 W, an idler power up to 3 W, and a mode-hop free operation over 10 h without any active stabilization. Furthermore, we have extended the tuning range of the parametric oscillator to the terahertz region: Our system converts near-infrared pump light to a monochromatic wave with a frequency of 1.35 THz and a power of 2 μW. Now, the straightforward next development step is to reduce the footprint of such devices. For this purpose another type of ring cavity is very promising: the whispering gallery resonator. This system offers unequaled opportunities because of its low loss leading to a high finesse. We discuss the challenges for transferring the parametric oscillation scheme to whispering gallery resonators, addressing the preparation of suitable resonators with a quality factor of 107 and a finesse of 500 and locking of the pump laser to a cavity mode for 3 hours.