Resonantly pumped optical pumping injection cavity lasers

An optical parametric oscillator is tuned to the resonance wavelength of the etalon in an optical pumping injection cavity (OPIC) laser with a type-II “W” active region, thereby minimizing the threshold pump intensity and maximizing the output slope efficiency. Previous OPIC experiments employed fixed-wavelength sources with only limited tuning available by adjusting the incident angle. Low threshold pump intensities of 330W∕cm2 at 100K and 14kW∕cm2 at 300K (where the output wavelength is 3200nm) were achieved. The energy conversion efficiency is found to decrease by over a factor of 100 when the pump wavelength is tuned from the resonance condition (1822nm at 300K) to only slightly off resonance (e.g., 1808nm).