Characteristics of coherent terahertz wave generation from LiNbO3 optical parametric oscillator

✍ Scribed by Junichi Shikata; Kodo Kawase; Manabu Sato; Tetsuo Taniuchi; Hiromasa Ito

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 198 KB
• Volume: 82
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8756-663X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6432(199905)82:5<46::aid-ecjb6>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

Terahertz wave generation by the optical parametric oscillation using LiNbO 3 is expected to provide a terahertz source with excellent coherence and wavelength variability in a wide range of applications. In this paper, in order to achieve high performance of the source, the basic characteristics of generation are studied. First, the basic properties of the gain coefficient and the absorption coefficient, including temperature, are studied theoretically, and it is made clear that the cooling of crystals is effective for improvement of generation efficiency. Next, an experimental investigation of the temperature characteristics of the parametric generation is carried out by measurement of the temperature dependence of the idler output. At 17.5 K, generation efficiency is increased by more than one order of magnitude in comparison with room-temperature operation.