Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Half-Watt average power femtosecond source spanning 3–8 µm based on subharmonic generation in GaAs

  • Published:
Applied Physics B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Frequency combs with a wide instantaneous spectral span covering the 3–20 µm molecular fingerprint region are highly desirable for broadband and high-resolution frequency comb spectroscopy, trace molecular detection, and remote sensing. We demonstrate a novel approach for generating high-average-power middle-infrared (MIR) output suitable for producing frequency combs with an instantaneous spectral coverage close to 1.5 octaves. Our method is based on utilizing a highly-efficient and compact Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr2+:ZnS laser operating at 2.35-µm central wavelength with 6-W average power, 77-fs pulse duration, and high 0.9-GHz repetition rate; to pump a degenerate (subharmonic) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a quasi-phase-matched GaAs crystal. Such subharmonic OPO is a nearly ideal frequency converter capable of extending the benefits of frequency combs based on well-established mode-locked pump lasers to the MIR region through rigorous, phase- and frequency-locked down conversion. We report a 0.5-W output in the form of an ultra-broadband spectrum spanning 3–8 µm measured at 50-dB level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. A. Schliesser, N. Picqué, and T.W. Hänsch, Mid-infrared frequency combs. Nat. Photon. 6, 440–449 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. F. Adler, K.C. Cossel, M.J. Thorpe, I. Hartl, M.E. Fermann, J. Ye, Phase-stabilized, 1.5 W frequency comb at 2.8–4.8 µm. Opt. Lett. 34, 1330–1332 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. F.C. Cruz, D.L. Maser, T. Johnson, G. Ycas, A. Klose, F.R. Giorgetta, I. Coddington, S.A. Diddams, Mid-infrared optical frequency combs based on difference frequency generation for molecular spectroscopy. Opt. Express 23, 26814 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. I. Pupeza, D. Sánchez, J. Zhang, N. Lilienfein, M. Seidel, N. Karpowicz, T. Paasch-Colberg, I. Znakovskaya, M. Pescher, W. Schweinberger, V. Pervak, E. Fill, O. Pronin, Z. Wei, F. Krausz, A. Apolonski, J. Biegert, High-power sub-two-cycle mid-infrared pulses at 100 MHz repetition rate. Nat. Photon. 9, 721–724 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. N. Leindecker, A. Marandi, R.L. Byer, K.L. Vodopyanov, Broadband degenerate OPO for mid-infrared frequency comb generation. Opt. Express 19, 6296–6302 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. K.L. Vodopyanov, S.T. Wong, R.L. Byer, “Infrared frequency comb methods, arrangements and applications. U.S. patent (2013). 8,384,990 (February 26) (2013)

  7. Q. Ru, Z.E. Loparo, X. Zhang, S. Crystal, S. Vasu, P.G. Schunemann, K.L. Vodopyanov, Self-referenced octave-wide subharmonic GaP optical parametric oscillator centered at 3 µm and pumped by an Er-fiber laser. Opt. Lett. 42, 4756–4759 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. V.O. Smolski, H. Yang, S.D. Gorelov, P.G. Schunemann, K.L. Vodopyanov, Coherence properties of a 2.6–7.5 µm frequency comb produced as a subharmonic of a Tm-fiber laser. Opt. Lett. 41(7), 1388–1391 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. V.O. Smolski, S. Vasilyev, P.G. Schunemann, S.B. Mirov, K.L. Vodopyanov, Cr:ZnS laser-pumped subharmonic GaAs optical parametric oscillator with the spectrum spanning 3.6–5.6 µm. Opt. Lett. 40, 2906–2908 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. A. Marandi, N. Leindecker, V. Pervak, R.L. Byer, K.L. Vodopyanov, Coherence properties of a broadband femtosecond mid-IR optical parametric oscillator operating at degeneracy. Opt. Express 20, 7255–7262 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. K.F. Lee, C. Mohr, J. Jiang, P.G. Schunemann, K.L. Vodopyanov, M.E. Fermann, Midinfrared frequency comb from self-stable degenerate GaAs optical parametric oscillator. Opt. Express 23, 26596–26603 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. A. Marandi, K.A. Ingold, M. Jankowski, R.L. Byer, Cascaded half-harmonic generation of femtosecond frequency combs in the mid-infrared. Optica 3, 324–327 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. J. Bethge, J. Jiang, C. Mohr, M. Fermann, I. Hartl, Optically referenced Tm-fiber-laser frequency comb, in Lasers, Sources, and Related Photonic Devices (Optical Society of America, 2012), paper AT5A.3 (2012)

  14. C. Gaida, M. Gebhardt, F. Stutzki, C. Jauregui, J. Limpert, A. Tünnermann, Thulium-doped fiber chirped-pulse amplification system with 2 GW of peak power. Opt. Lett. 41, 4130–4133 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. S. Duval, M. Olivier, V. Fortin, M. Bernier, M. Piché, R. Vallée, 23-kW peak power femtosecond pulses from a mode-locked fiber ring laser at 2.8 µm. In: Proc. SPIE 9728, 972802, (2016)

  16. J. Zhang, K.F. Mak, S. Gröbmeyer, D. Bauer, D. Sutter, V. Pervak, F. Krausz, O. Pronin, Generation of 220 fs, 20 W pulses at 2 µm from Kerr-lens mode-locked Ho:YAG thin-disk oscillator. In: Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2017), paper SM1I.6

  17. S. Mirov, V. Fedorov, D. Martyshkin, I. Moskalev, M. Mirov, S. Vasilyev, Progress in mid-IR lasers based on Cr and Fe-doped II–VI chalcogenides. IEEE J. Sel. Topics Quant. Electron. 21, 1601719 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. S. Mirov, I. Moskalev, S. Vasilyev, V. Smolski, V. Fedorov, D. Martyshkin, J. Peppers, M. Mirov, A. Dergachev, and V. Gapontsev, Frontiers of mid-IR lasers based on transition metal doped chalcogenides. Submitted for publication. In: IEEE J. Sel. Topics in Quantum Electron. (2018)

  19. S. I.Moskalev, M. Mirov, S. Mirov, V. Vasilyev, A. Smolski, V. Zakrevskiy, Gapontsev, 140 W Cr:ZnSe laser system. Opt. Express 24(18), 21090–21104 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. S. Vasilyev, I. Moskalev, M. Mirov, V. Smolski, S. Mirov, V. Gapontsev, Ultrafast middle-IR lasers and amplifiers based on polycrystalline Cr:ZnS and Cr:ZnSe. Opt. Mat. Express 7, 2636–2650 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. E. Slobodchikov, L.R. Chieffo, K.F. Wall, High peak power ultrafast Cr:ZnSe oscillator and power amplifier. In: Proc. SPIE 9726, Solid State Lasers XXV: technology and devices, 972603, (March 16, 2016)

  22. T. Sorokina, E. Sorokin, Femtosecond Cr2+-based lasers. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quant. Electron. 21(1), 1601519 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. S. Vasilyev, M. Mirov, V. Gapontsev, Kerr-lens mode-locked femtosecond polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnS and Cr2+:ZnSe lasers. Opt. Express 22(5), 5118–5123 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. S. Vasilyev, I. Moskalev, M. Mirov, S. Mirov, V. Gapontsev, Three optical cycle mid-IR Kerr-lens mode-locked polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnS laser. Opt. Lett. 40(21), 5054–5057 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. S. Vasilyev, I. Moskalev, M. Mirov, S. Mirov, V. Gapontsev, Multi-Watt mid-IR femtosecond polycrystalline Cr2+:ZnS and Cr2+: ZnSe laser amplifiers with the spectrum spanning 2.0–2.6 µm. Opt. Express 24(2), 1616–1623 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Q. Ru, K. Zhong, N. Lee, Z. Loparo, P. Schunemann, S. Vasilyev, S. Mirov, K. Vodopyanov, Instantaneous spectral span of 2.85–8.40 µm achieved in a Cr:ZnS laser pumped subharmonic OPO. In: Proc. SPIE 10088, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVI, 1008809, (2017)

  27. P.G. Schunemann, K.T. Zawilski, L.A. Pomeranz, D.J. Creeden, P.A. Budni, Advances in nonlinear optical crystals for mid-infrared coherent sources. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 33, D36 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. W.C. Hurlbut, Y.-S. Lee, K.L. Vodopyanov, P.S. Kuo, and M.M. Fejer, Multiphoton absorption and nonlinear refraction of GaAs in the mid-infrared. Opt. Lett. 32, 668 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. K. Lee, C. Mohr, J. Jiang, P. Schunemann, K. Vodopyanov, M. Fermann, Midinfrared frequency comb from self-stable degenerate GaAs optical parametric oscillator. Opt. Express 23, 26596–26603 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. L. Maidment, P.G. Schunemann, D.T. Reid, Molecular fingerprint-region spectroscopy from 5 to 12 µm using an orientation-patterned gallium phosphide optical parametric oscillator. Opt. Lett. 41, 4261 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

KLV would like to thank the Office of Naval Research (ONR) (grant N00014-15-1-2659) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (grant W31P4Q-15-1-0008) for the financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IPG Photonics-Southeast Technology Center, Birmingham, AL, 35211, USA

    Viktor Smolski, Sergey Vasilyev, Igor Moskalev, Mike Mirov & Sergey Mirov

  2. CREOL, College of Optics and Photonics, Univ. Cent. Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Qitian Ru, Andrey Muraviev & Konstantin Vodopyanov

  3. BAE Systems, P.O. Box 868, MER15-1813, Nashua, NH, 03061, USA

    Peter Schunemann

  4. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    Sergey Mirov

  5. IPG Photonics Corporation, Oxford, MA, 01540, USA

    Valentin Gapontsev

Authors
  1. Viktor Smolski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sergey Vasilyev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Igor Moskalev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mike Mirov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Qitian Ru
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Andrey Muraviev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Peter Schunemann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Sergey Mirov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Valentin Gapontsev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Konstantin Vodopyanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viktor Smolski.

Additional information

This article is part of the topical collection “Mid-infrared and THz Laser Sources and Applications” guest edited by Wei Ren, Paolo De Natale and Gerard Wysocki.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Smolski, V., Vasilyev, S., Moskalev, I. et al. Half-Watt average power femtosecond source spanning 3–8 µm based on subharmonic generation in GaAs. Appl. Phys. B 124, 101 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-018-6963-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-018-6963-4

Search

Navigation