Infrared wavelengths, which have been challenging to produce with silicon chip technology, can now be converted into visible wavelengths thanks to the developing of a novel chip-integrated light source. This adaptable method of on-chip light production is set to make it possible to produce highly compact photonic instruments that are reliable enough to be used outside of the lab. In describing their brand-new optical parametric oscillator (OPO) light source, researchers demonstrate how it can generate output light with a very different hue or wavelength than the source’s own. The OPO concurrently produces light at visible and near-infrared wavelengths that can be applied to telecommunications.
According to the research team, the flexible and power-efficient method produces coherent laser light over a broader spectrum of wavelengths than is possible with direct chip-integrated lasers. Visible light can be produced on a chip and integrated into small, highly useful devices like portable biochemical analyzers or chip-based atomic clocks. The possibility for scalable manufacturing of these devices in industrial fabrication foundries is created by developing the optical parametric oscillator in a silicon photonics platform, which could make this strategy very cost-effective.
Although a material’s reaction to light usually scales linearly, high-power light can cause a material’s properties to change more quickly, leading to various nonlinear effects. OPOs are a particular kind of laser that can produce various output frequencies by using nonlinear optical effects.
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