Numerical modeling of mid-infrared fiber optical parametric oscillator based on the degenerated FWM of tellurite photonic crystal fiber.

Mid-infrared fiber optical parametric oscillators (MIR FOPOs) based on the degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) of tellurite photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are proposed and modeled for the first time. Using the DFWM coupled-wave equations, numerical simulations are performed to analyze the effects of tellurite PCFs, single-resonant cavity, and pump source on the MIR FOPO performances. The numerical results show that: (1) although a longer tellurite PCF can decrease the pump threshold of MIR FOPOs to a few watts only, the high conversion-efficiency of MIR idler usually requires a short-length optimum PCF with low loss; (2) compared with the single-pass DFWM configurations of the MIR fiber sources published previously, the stable oscillation of signal light in single-resonant cavity can significantly promote the MIR idler output efficiency. With a suggested tellurite PCF as parametric gain medium, the theoretical prediction indicates that such a MIR FOPO could obtain a wide MIR-tunable range and a high conversion efficiency of more than 10%.