Parametric cascade downconverter for intense ultrafast mid-infrared generation beyond the Manley-Rowe limit

James M. Fraser (1) , Cathie Ventalon (2)

1 Department of physics, engineering physics and astronomy
2 LOB - Laboratoire d'optique et biosciences

We propose a scheme to generate intense, ultrafast mid-infrared pulses with conversion efficiencies exceeding the upper bound for single-stage difference-frequency mixing as predicted by the Manley-Rowe relations. Finite-element fast Fourier transform simulations of the mixing process show that the parametric cascade downconverter generates 1.7 times more photons (at 10 μm ) than in the initial pump pulse (center wavelength of 1.48 μm , duration of 130 fs , and pulse energy of 50 μJ ), with negligible pulse spatial and temporal distortion. © 2006 Optical Society of America

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

James M. Fraser, Cathie Ventalon. Parametric cascade downconverter for intense ultrafast mid-infrared generation beyond the Manley-Rowe limit. Applied optics, 2006, 45 (17), pp.4109-4113. ⟨10.1364/AO.45.004109⟩. ⟨hal-00824484⟩