Ultrafast polarization dynamics and noise in pulsed vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers.

We have measured on ps time scales the temporal behavior of the intensity noise of, and correlations between, orthogonally polarized modes in an optically pumped VCSEL. Measurements were made in both the circular and the linear bases. Sub-ps optical pumping with circular polarization leads to positively correlated intensity noise for emission in orthogonal linear polarizations. Optical pumping with linear polarization leads to anti-correlated intensity noise for emission in orthogonal linear polarizations, due to random orientation of linearly polarized emission. Intensity noise for circularly polarized emission is uncorrelated or anti-correlated depending on spin-flip rates which determine the strength of gain competition. We have generalized the theoretical treatment of San Miguel, Feng, and Moloney to successfully model these phenomena.

Tunable fiber-optic parametric oscillator.

We report operation of a tunable optical parametric oscillator that employs a nonlinear-fiber Sagnac interferometer as a parametric amplifier. The amplifier, which consists primarily of dispersion-shifted fiber that has zero dispersion at 1538 nm, is synchronously pumped with 7.7-ps pulses at 1539 nm. The wide bandwidth of the parametric gain permits tuning of the output signal pulses over a 40-nm range centered on the pump wavelength. The Sagnac interferometer decouples the pump wave from the oscillator cavity while a bandpass filter in the cavity transmits only the signal wave, thereby creating a singly resonant parametric oscillator that is phase insensitive. Whereas we demonstrate tuning over almost the entire bandwidth of Er-doped-fiber amplifiers, one could construct a similar device that operates near the 1310-nm zero-dispersion wavelength of standard telecommunication fiber.

Pulsed degenerate optical parametric oscillator based on a nonlinear-fiber Sagnac interferometer.

We report operation of an all-fiber degenerate optical parametric oscillator that employs a nonlinear-fiber Sagnac interferometer as a parametric amplifier. Synchronous pumping with 3.9-ps pulses at 1544 nm yields 0.83-ps output pulses. The wide bandwidth of the fiber parametric amplifier causes the oscillator to act as a pulse compressor. The output signal pulses exhibit improved spectral symmetry and a reduced time-bandwidth product compared with the pump pulses. Currently, the net group-velocity dispersion in the passive section of the fiber cavity limits the signal-pulse bandwidth and hence the minimum-obtainable pulse width. This experiment suggests the possibility of frequency conversion by operation of a similar pulsed parametric oscillator away from degeneracy.

Amplitude squeezing by means of quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic generation in a lithium niobate waveguide.

We demonstrate that traveling-wave second-harmonic generation produces amplitude-squeezed light at both the fundamental and the harmonic frequencies. Quasi-phase-matched second-harmonic conversion efficiencies approaching 60% were obtained in a 26-mm-long single-mode LiNbO(3) waveguide with pulses from a mode-locked laser at 1.53 microm. The amplitude noise of the transmitted fundamental field was measured to be 0.8 dB below the shot-noise level, and the generated 0.765-microm harmonic light was measured to be amplitude squeezed by 0.35 dB. The conversion-efficiency dependence of the observed squeezing at both wavelengths agrees with theoretical predictions. Waveguide losses appear to degrade the squeezing, but the maximum observed squeezing is currently limited only by the available input power.

Squeezing in a quasi-phase-matched LiNbO(3) waveguide.

We report traveling-wave quadrature squeezing at 1064 nm in a quasi-phase-matched LiNbO(3) waveguide, avoiding the gain-induced diffraction encountered in bulk squeezing experiments. The 10-mm-long singlemode waveguide parametric amplifier exhibited a gain of 1.9, averaged over the 20-ps mode-locked pulses, with only 0.5 W of peak pump power at 532 nm. Independent waveguides were employed for the degenerate parametric amplifier squeezer and for the second-harmonic generator that produced the pump for the parametric amplifier. We measured phase-sensitive amplification versus pump power and found close agreement with theory. The observed 14% squeezing correlates closely with the predicted value, based on the measured phase-sensitive amplification and 40% overall detection efficiency. Impedance-matched electrically resonant detection was used to boost our squeezing measurement signals substantially above the background level.

Continuous-wave total-internal-reflection optical parametric oscillator pumped at 1064 nm.

We report what is to our knowledge the first cw 1064-nm-pumped optical parametric oscillator (OPO), using a critically phase-matched (theta(pm) = 45.5 degrees ), monolithic total-internal-reflection, doubly resonant OPO fabricated from congruent LiNbO(3). Frustrated total-internal-reflection provides variable output coupling for the signal and the idler. The measured finesse of 6000 at 2014 nm implies a round-trip power loss of 0.1%. The low round-trip power losses compensate the 2 degrees Poynting vector walk-off and give a threshold of 130 mW. A passive thermal feedback mechanism causes the OPO to oscillate stably in a single axial-mode pair for more than 30 min. The OPO output tunes in 0.1-nm steps from 2040 to 2225 nm by tuning the pump frequency.