Mezzapesa, FP, Pistore, V, Garrasi, K et al. (5 more authors) (2019) Tunable and compact dispersion compensation of broadband THz quantum cascade laser frequency combs. Optics Express, 27 (15). pp. 20231-20240. ISSN 1094-4087
Abstract
Miniaturized frequency combs (FCs) can be self-generated at terahertz (THz) frequencies through four-wave mixing in the cavity of a quantum cascade laser (QCL). To date, however, stable comb operation is only observed over a small operational current range in which the bias-depended chromatic dispersion is compensated. As most dispersion compensation techniques in the THz range are not tunable, this limits the spectral coverage of the comb and the emitted output power, restricting potential applications in, for example, metrology and ultrashort THz pulse generation. Here, we demonstrate an alternative architecture that provides a tunable, lithographically independent, control of the free-running coherence properties of THz QCL FCs. This is achieved by integrating an on-chip tightly coupled mirror with the QCL cavity, providing an external cavity and hence a tunable Gires Tournois interferometer (GTI). By finely adjusting the gap between the GTI and the back-facet of an ultra-broadband, high dynamic range QCL, we attain wide dispersion compensation regions, where stable and narrow (~3 kHz linewidth) single beatnotes extend over an operation range that is significantly larger than that of dispersion-dominated bare laser cavity counterparts. Significant reduction of the phase noise is registered over the whole QCL spectral bandwidth (1.35 THz). This agile accommodation of a tunable dispersion compensator will help enable uptake of QCL-combs for metrological, spectroscopic and quantum technology−oriented applications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Journal © 2019. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering (Leeds) > Pollard Institute (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union GA 665158 EPSRC EP/P021859/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Jul 2019 08:35 |
Last Modified: | 15 Jul 2019 08:35 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Optical Society of America |
Identification Number: | 10.1364/OE.27.020231 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:148558 |