Optical oscillator based on frequency-degenerate pumping of a cerium-activated barium strontium niobate crystal

Oscillation was observed in linear and ring resonators with an amplifying medium when gratings were formed holographically in a cerium-activated barium strontium niobate crystal. Threshold-free oscillation was observed as a result of pumping with argon laser radiation of the 488 nm wavelength. It was found that the main nonlinear mechanism responsible for the oscillations was diffusion.