We show that a nondegenerate multifrequency parametric oscillator has different properties compared with the usual three-wave parametric oscillator. We consider, as an example, a scheme for a resonant cw monolithic microwave-optical parametric oscillator based on high-$Q$ whispering gallery modes excited in a nonlinear dielectric cavity. Such an oscillator may have an extremely low threshold and stable operation, and may be used in spectroscopy and metrology. The oscillator mimics devices based on resonant ${\chi }^{\mathrm{}\left(3\right)\mathrm{}}$ nonlinearity and can be utilized for efficient four-wave mixing and optical comb generation. Moreover, the oscillator properties are important to better understand the stability conditions of long-baseline interferometers with movable mirrors that are currently used for gravity wave detection.

• Received 9 April 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.043814