Increased acceptance bandwidths in optical frequency conversion by use of multiple walk-off-compensating nonlinear crystals

Abstract

We show by experiment and mathematical model that angular and frequency acceptance bandwidths for frequency mixing in a nonlinear crystal can often be improved by segmenting the crystal and reversing the spatial or temporal walk-off in alternating segments. We analyze nonlinear mixing primarily in real space, (x, t), rather than Fourier space, (k, ω), and show that acceptance bands for sum- and difference-frequency mixing can be increased by up to a factor equal to the number of crystal segments. We consider both high- and low-efficiency mixing as well as parametric gain, and show that in many cases of practical interest the increased bandwidth substantially improves conversion efficiency. We also attempt to clarify the role of acceptance bandwidths in frequency mixing.