Investigation of the spectral width of quantum cascade laser emission near 5.2 μm by a heterodyne experiment

Ganser, Heiko; Frech, B.; Jentsch, Andreas; Mürtz, Manfred; Gmachl, Claire F.; Capasso, Federico; Sivco, Deborah L.; Baillargeon, J. N.; Hutchinson, Albert L.; Cho, Alfred Y.; Urban, W.

doi:10.1016/s0030-4018(01)01441-9

Cited by 24 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Even better performances have been recently obtained by using heterogeneous quantum cascade structures into an external cavity configuration [8]: single-mode tuning range of more than 100 cm -1 (10% the center wavelenght) has been achieved. On the side of spectral purity, upper limits to the emission linewidth of external cavity QCLs have been estimated in few MHz [9,10], and are the same order of magnitude of those measured for free-running DFB QCLs [11,12], also verified by our experiments [13]. This fact confirms that the external cavity does not significantly contribute to the narrowing of the emission linewidth.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Quantum cascade lasers as metrological tools for space optics

Bartalini

Borri

Galli³

et al. 2017

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2008

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A distributed-feedback quantum-cascade laser working in the 4.3÷4.4 µm range has been frequency stabilized to the Lamb-dip center of a CO2 ro-vibrational transition by means of first-derivative locking to the saturated absorption signal, and its absolute frequency counted with a kHz-level precision and an overall uncertainty of 75 kHz. This has been made possible by an optical link between the QCL and a near-IR Optical Frequency Comb Synthesizer, thanks to a non-linear sum-frequency generation process with a fiber-amplified Nd:YAG laser. The implementation of a new spectroscopic technique, known as polarization spectroscopy, provides an improved signal for the locking loop, and will lead to a narrower laser emission and a drastic improvement in the frequency stability, that in principle is limited only by the stability of the optical frequency comb synthesizer (few parts in 10 13 ). These results confirm quantum cascade lasers as reliable sources not only for high-sensitivity, but also for highprecision measurements, ranking them as optimal laser sources for space applications.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Quantum cascade lasers as metrological tools for space optics

Bartalini

Borri

Galli³

et al. 2017

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2008

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“…Several authors have reported spectral width measurements of frequency-stabilized 4 and free-running QCLs. 5,6 To the best of our knowledge, we report in this Letter the first direct observation of a 9.1-mm distributed-feedback QCL spectral width by heterodyning with a cw C 18 O 2 laser. This QCL wavelength is particularly attractive because it hits the 8 13-mm atmospheric window.…”

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confidence: 85%

Free-running 91-µm distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser linewidth measurement by heterodyning with a C^18O_2 laser

et al. 2003

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We report spectral linewidth measurements of a 9.1-microm distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser (QCL). The free-running QCL beam was mixed with a waveguide isotopic C18O2 laser onto a high-speed HgCdTe photomixer, and beat notes were recorded from a radio-frequency spectral analyzer. Beating was performed at two operating conditions, first near the QCL laser threshold (beating with the C18O2 R10 line) and then at a high injection current (beating with the C18O2 R8 line). Overall, beat note widths of 1.3-6.5 MHz were observed, which proves that a free-running QCL can have a short-term spectral width near 1 MHz.

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“…The use of the OFCS and the locking loop marks an important improvement over the existing literature. 12,13 Thanks to frequency stabilization of our device, in fact, acquisitions of the beat note over longer time intervals are possible. In particular, this allows a comparison (Fig.…”

Section: Preliminary Considerations On the Lasermentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum cascade lasers for high-resolution spectroscopy

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Despite the growing interest that quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are gaining, they still present a few unclear aspects of their fundamental properties, such as spectral purity, that need to be deeply investigated when aiming to make these innovative laser sources suitable for high-resolution spectroscopy and metrology. This paper is a review of our efforts towards QCL-based high-resolution spectroscopy and of our experimental investigation of QCLs ’ frequency noise, aimed to discover the ultimate performances attainable by QCLs and to develop the exper-imental techniques required to achieve them. Our results, confirmed by several independent measurements, show that QCLs have a very small intrinsic linewidth buried under a large frequency-noise background. The development of appropriate frequency stabilization techniques will make QCLs well suited for high-resolution spectroscopy and metrology in the mid and far IR. C © 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [DOI: 10.1117/1.3498775] Subject terms: quantum cascade lasers; high-resolution infrared molecular spec

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Investigation of the spectral width of quantum cascade laser emission near 5.2 μm by a heterodyne experiment

Cited by 24 publications

References 13 publications

Quantum cascade lasers as metrological tools for space optics

Quantum cascade lasers as metrological tools for space optics

Free-running 91-µm distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser linewidth measurement by heterodyning with a C^18O_2 laser

Quantum cascade lasers for high-resolution spectroscopy

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