Title: NIST Develops Compact, Low-Power Optical Parametric Oscillator for Quantum and Classical Applications
Summary:
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a compact, low-power optical parametric oscillator (OPO) using silicon nanophotonics technology. The OPO generates wide-spectrally separated signal and idler coherent light, overcoming limitations of conventional laser gain media.
Key technical points:
– The OPO is fabricated using scalable silicon photonics manufacturing processes, enabling integration with compact chip-based lasers
– It achieves sub-mW threshold power, significantly lower than previous OPO designs
– The device supports cavity-enhanced degenerate four-wave mixing, with high optical quality factors and strong field confinement
– New techniques for engineering dispersion allow efficient conversion of near-infrared pump light to visible and telecom wavelengths
Potential applications include integrated photonics, spectroscopy, and biochemical sensing. The compact, low-power design could enable widespread adoption of OPOs in quantum technologies and classical applications requiring coherent light sources.
Keywords: Optical parametric oscillator, Silicon nanophotonics, Silicon nitride
