Toward integrated tantalum pentoxide optical parametric oscillators

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a hybrid waveguide-fiber optical parametric oscillator using tantalum pentoxide, capable of generating tunable idler pulses with high efficiency, indicating potential for compact integrated light sources.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid waveguide-fiber OPO exploiting tantalum pentoxide for tunable light generation, showing feasibility for chip integration.

Findings

Tunable idler pulses generated between 1.63 and 1.68 μm.

Up to 4.1 pJ pulse energy achieved.

Total cavity loss tolerance up to 32 dB.

Abstract

We present a hybrid waveguide-fiber optical parametric oscillator (OPO) exploiting degenerate four-wave mixing in tantalum pentoxide. The OPO, pumped with ultrashort pulses at 1.55 $\mu$m wavelength, generated tunable idler pulses with up to 4.1 pJ energy tunable between 1.63 $\mu$m and 1.68 $\mu$m center wavelength. An upper bound for the total tolerable cavity loss of 32 dB was found, rendering a chip-integrated OPO feasible as a compact and robust light source.