Hybrid AM/FM Mode-Locking of Singly-Resonant OPOs

Abstract

We investigate a new mode-locking regime in the singly-resonant OPO employing simultaneous amplitude- and frequency-modulation of the intracavity field. This OPO exhibits deterministic, "turn-key" formation of a stable, broadband, chirped frequency comb with high conversion efficiency. Comb-forming dynamics follow a simple phase-space dynamical model, governed by cavity dispersion and modulator chirp, which agrees closely with full numerical simulations. The comb exhibits fast, mode-hop-free tuning over the full gain window of the OPA crystal, controlled by the modulator frequency. Conditions for comb stability, and techniques to enhance comb bandwidth through intentional phase-mismatch and chirping, are investigated.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. Appendix: 10 pages, 5 figure