Mode hopping strongly affects observability of dynamical instability in optical parametric oscillators

Axelle Amon (1) , Marc Lefranc (2)

1 PALMS - Physique des atomes, lasers, molécules et surfaces
2 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523

Theoretical investigations of dynamical behavior in optical parametric oscillators (OPO) have generally assumed that the cavity detunings of the interacting fields are controllable parameters. However, OPOs are known to experience mode hops, where the system jumps to the mode of lowest cavity detuning. We note that this phenomenon significantly limits the range of accessible detunings and thus may prevent instabilities predicted to occur above a minimum detuning from being evidenced experimentally. As a simple example among a number of instability mechanisms possibly affected by this limitation, we discuss the Hopf bifurcation leading to periodic behavior in the monomode mean-field model of a triply resonant OPO and show that it probably can be observed only in very specific setups.

Mots clés: optical parametric oscillators; dynamics of nonlinear optical systems

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Axelle Amon, Marc Lefranc. Mode hopping strongly affects observability of dynamical instability in optical parametric oscillators. The European Physical Journal D : Atomic, molecular, optical and plasma physics, 2007, 44, pp.547-556. ⟨hal-00073864⟩