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Cleo - Si 2017 SM2L.3

Octave-spanning dual-comb spectroscopy with a free-running bidirectional mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser

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13 views2 pages

Cleo - Si 2017 SM2L.3

Octave-spanning dual-comb spectroscopy with a free-running bidirectional mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser

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r74h7zfrbc
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SM2L.3.

pdf CLEO 2017 © OSA 2017

Octave-spanning dual-comb spectroscopy with a free-running


bidirectional mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser
Y. H. Ou, J. Olson, S. Mehravar, R. A. Norwood, N. Peyghambarian, and K. Kieu1
College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, 1630 E. University blvd, Tucson, AZ, 85721
1
[email protected]

Abstract: We demonstrate an octave-spanning laser source for dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS).


Two optical frequency combs (OFCs) are generated from a single laser cavity and frequency
broadened to cover over an octave for broadband single shot DCS.
OCIS codes: (060.2320) Fiber optics amplifiers and oscillators, (140.3070) Infrared and far-infrared lasers, (140.7090)
Ultrafast lasers, (190.0190) Nonlinear optics.

Dual-comb techniques have many useful applications such as high resolution spectroscopy and precision
distance measurements [1-5]. Dual-comb spectroscopy, using two mutually coherent OFCs, can provide orders of
magnitude improvement in acquisition speed over standard Fourier-transform spectroscopy while still preserving its
high resolution capability [6-8]. Wider adoption of this technique has, however, been difficult because of the need
for complex and expensive ultrafast laser and electronics systems. We have recently presented a simple and robust
dual-comb setup that employs a free-running bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser operating in the
telecommunication wavelength band. Two femtosecond frequency combs (with a small difference in repetition
rates) are generated from a single laser cavity to ensure mutual coherent properties and common noise cancellation.
Using these frequency combs, we have been able to demonstrate real-time absorption spectroscopy measurements
without the need for complex servo locking or adaptive sampling but with accurate frequency referencing, comb-
tooth-resolved capability, and relatively high signal-to-noise ratio. Here, we show that the laser system can be
optimized to work outside of the telecommunication wavelength range around 1550 nm by using supercontinuum
generation in a highly nonlinear optical fiber. As a result DCS can now be used over an octave of optical frequency.
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the broadband DCS setup. The design of the bidirectional mode-locked
fiber laser is similar to what was reported in [9]. The laser can be mode-locked with a carbon nanotube based
saturable absorber [10] in both clockwise (CW) and counter-clockwise (CCW) directions by increasing the pump
power above the laser threshold. We use an inline-type polarization controller in the cavity to optimize the operation
of the laser. The repetition rates of the two frequency combs operating with center wavelengths at ∼1557 nm are ∼
72,383,029 Hz and ~72,383,100 Hz, corresponding to a detuning frequency, Dfr, of 71 Hz. Dfr can be slightly tuned
in a range about 300 Hz by changing the pump power or tweaking the inline polarization controller. Fig. 2 shows the
HCN molecule absorption spectrum measured using DCS around 1550 nm.
In the DCS setup, the combs are first amplified by two separate EDFAs to increase the pulse energy and spectral
bandwidth. A piece of SMF28 fiber with an optimized length is added to each arm to compress the pulses coming
out of the amplifiers to about 60 fs. The FWHM spectral bandwidths of the pulses are broadened to about 45 nm in
the amplifiers (the average output power after amplification is about 100 mW for each arm). The fully compressed
pulses from each arm are launched into separate short pieces of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF) to generate an octave
spanning supercontinuum (Fig. 2(c)). We use a 50/50 fiber coupler to mix the pulses and then choose suitable
spectral filters to perform DCS at different spectral regions from 1 µm to ~ 2 µm.

Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of the laser system for broadband DCS with a free-running bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser as the seed source.
Octave spanning supercontinuum spectra are generated from both the clockwise and counter-clockwise output.
SM2L.3.pdf CLEO 2017 © OSA 2017

Fig. 2: (a) Time trace of the interferogram from two OFCs with center wavelengths around 1557 nm. (b) Absorption spectrum of HCN molecule
in the RF frequency domain. The resolution in the RF domain is about 1.13 kHz, which corresponds to ~1 GHz in the optical domain [9]. (c)
Octave spanning supercontinuum generation from the two outputs of the bidirectional mode-locked laser.

In conclusion, we have generated two OFCs out of a single ring fiber laser cavity and used the source for DCS.
The two OFCs are frequency broadened to cover over an octave which can be used for broadband single shot DCS.
We believe that this simple and robust all-fiber DCS design is a promising alternative to other complex gas sensing
methods. Moreover, further spectral broadening of the laser source and other nonlinear mixing techniques can be
used to cover other optical spectral regions of interest.
References
1. C.-H. Li, A. J. Benedick, P. Fendel, A. G. Glenday, F. X. Kärtner, D. F. Phillips, D. Sasselov, A. Szentgyorgyi, R. L. Walsworth, “A
laser frequency comb that enables radial velocity measurements with a precision of 1 cm/s,” Nature 452, 610–612 (2008).
2. T. Udem, R. Holzwarth, T. W. Hänsch, “Optical frequency metrology,” Nature 416, 233–237 (2002).
3. Nathan R. Newbury and William C. Swann, "Low-noise fiber-laser frequency combs (Invited)," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 24, 1756-1770
(2007).
4. Scott A. Diddams, "The evolving optical frequency comb [Invited]," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27, B51-B62 (2010)
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Combs,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 013902 (2008).
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P. P. Tans, I. Coddington, and N. R. Newbury, "Frequency-comb-based remote sensing of greenhouse gases over kilometer air
paths," Optica 1, 290-298 (2014).
8. T. Ideguchi, A. Poisson, G. Guelachvili, N. Piqué, and T. W. Hänsch, “Adaptive real-time dual-comb spectroscopy,” Nat. Commun.
5, 3375 (2014).
9. S. Mehravar, R. A. Norwood, N. Peyghambarian, and K. Kieu, "Real-time dual-comb spectroscopy with a free-running
bidirectionally mode-locked fiber laser," Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 231104 (2016).
10. K. Kieu and M. Mansuripur, "Femtosecond laser pulse generation with a fiber taper embedded in carbon nanotube/polymer
composite," Opt. Lett. 32, 2242-2244 (2007).

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