Optical frequency comb (OFC) spectroscopy in the mid-infrared (MIR) promises faster, more precise, or more sensitive molecular spectroscopy. To date, demonstrations of MIR OFCs have suffered from low power, poor wavelength coverage, or low sensitivity. Systems that do excel in these areas have high cost and complexity.
The new MIR OFC generation method presented here overcomes these limitations. Phase modulation of a CW laser forms an NIR OFC, which pumps a singly resonant, single frequency optical parametric oscillator (OPO). The OPO output is an MIR OFC, which is tunable between 2200 - 4000 nm with >1 W output power.
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