Optical Parametric Amplifiers

Abstract

Optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) exploit second-order nonlinearity to transfer energy from a fixed frequency pump pulse to a variable frequency signal pulse, and represent an easy way of tuning over a broad range the frequency of an otherwise fixed laser system. OPAs can also act as broadband amplifiers, transferring energy from a narrowband pump to a broadband signal and thus considerably shortening the duration of the pump pulse. This article introduces the physical foundation of OPAs and presents their general architectures for the generation of ultra-broadband and high peak power pulses.