Observation of two distinct phase states in a self-phase-locked type II phase-matched optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate self-phase locking in a type II phase-matched optical parametric oscillator by mutual injection locking. An intracavity quarter-wave plate provides polarization mixing between the orthogonally polarized signal and idler that induces signal-idler self-phase locking when their frequency difference is within the capture range. We observed two distinct phase states that differ in their oscillator thresholds and their signal-idler phase differences, in good agreement with theory.