Tunable microcavity-stabilized quantum cascade laser for mid-IR high-resolution spectroscopy and sensing

Year: 2016

Authors: Borri S., Siciliani de Cumis M., Insero G., Bartalini S., Cancio P., Mazzotti D., Galli I., Giusfredi G., Santambrogio G., Savchenkov A., Eliyahu D., Ilchenko V., Akikusa N., Matsko A., Maleki L., De Natale P.

Autors Affiliation: CNR-INO, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, Firenze, FI 50125, Italy; LENS, European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Via Carrara 1, Sesto Fiorentino, FI 50019, Italy; INFN, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze, via G. Sansone 1, Sesto Fiorentino, FI 50019, Italy; INRIM, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Strada delle Cacce 91, Torino, 10135, Italy; OEwaves Inc, 465 North Halstead Street, Suite 140, Pasadena, CA 91107, United States; Development Bureau Laser Device R and D Group, Hamamatsu Photonics KKShizuoka 434-8601, Japan

Abstract: 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 CaF 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.

Journal/Review: SENSORS

Volume: 16 (2)      Pages from: 238-1  to: 238-10

More Information: CNR-INO team gratefully acknowledges Marco De Pas, Davide D´Ambrosio and Inaki Lopez Garcia for useful discussions. The authors acknowledge financial support from Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) European project and from Laserlab-Europe, Grant Agreement No. 284464, EU 7th Framework Program. OEwaves team acknowledges partial support from Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)(FA9550-12-C-0068) and from CNR-INO.
KeyWords: Crystalline materials; Frequency stability; Locks (fasteners); Optical resonators; Resonators; Semiconductor lasers; Spectroscopic analysis; Spectroscopy; Stabilization; Whispering gallery modes, Frequency stabilization; High-resolution spectroscopy; Innovative solutions; Laser stabilization; Molecular absorption lines; Sub-Doppler spectroscopy; Tunable micro-cavities; Whispering gallery mode resonator, Quantum cascade lasers
DOI: 10.3390/s16020238

Citations: 18
data from “WEB OF SCIENCE” (of Thomson Reuters) are update at: 2024-03-24
References taken from IsiWeb of Knowledge: (subscribers only)
Connecting to view paper tab on IsiWeb: Click here
Connecting to view citations from IsiWeb: Click here