SPONTANEOUS PARAMETRIC SCATTERING OF LIGHT IN PROUSTITE

Abstract
The spontaneous parametric scattering from ruby‐laser‐pumped proustite crystals has been investigated. By rotating the crystal, the signal wavelength was tuned from 0.7293 to 1.0875 μ corresponding to an idler wavelength range of 14.6 to 1.93 μ. Frequency tuning by varying the crystal temperature was found to be less efficient than for LiNbO3. Bandwidth and effect of idler absorption were also studied, and the effective nonlinear coefficients of proustite and LiNbO3 were compared.