Tunable Microcavity-Stabilized Quantum Cascade Laser for Mid-IR High-Resolution Spectroscopy and Sensing

Sensors

Andrey Matsko¹  Giovanni Giusfredi²  Pablo Cancio Pastor²  Saverio Bartalini²  Simone Borri²  Gabriele Santambrogio²  Giacomo Insero²  Iacopo Galli²  Mario Siciliani de Cumis²  Davide Mazzotti²  Naota Akikusa³  Vladimir Ilchenko⁴  Lute Maleki⁴  Danny Eliyahu⁴  Anatoliy Savchenkov⁴  Paolo De Natale⁴ 

[1] D Group, Hamamatsu Photonics KK, Shizuoka 434-8601, Japan;CNR-INO – Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, FI, Italy;;Development Bureau Laser Device R &OEwaves Inc., 465 North Halstead Street, Suite 140, Pasadena, CA 91107, USA;

关键词: sub-Doppler spectroscopy;    quantum cascade lasers;    laser stabilization;    whispering gallery mode resonators;    crystalline resonators;    infrared resonator;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s16020238

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The need for highly performing and stable methods for mid-IR molecular sensing and metrology pushes towards the development of more and more compact and robust systems. Among the innovative solutions aimed at answering the need for stable mid-IR references are crystalline microresonators, which have recently shown excellent capabilities for frequency stabilization and linewidth narrowing of quantum cascade lasers with compact setups. In this work, we report on the first system for mid-IR high-resolution spectroscopy based on a quantum cascade laser locked to a CaF2 microresonator. Electronic locking narrows the laser linewidth by one order of magnitude and guarantees good stability over long timescales, allowing, at the same time, an easy way for finely tuning the laser frequency over the molecular absorption line. Improvements in terms of resolution and frequency stability of the source are demonstrated by direct sub-Doppler recording of a molecular line.

【 授权许可】

Unknown