Mid-infrared spectroscopy with a broadly tunable thin-film lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator
Abstract
Mid-infrared spectroscopy, an important and widespread technique for sensing molecules, has encountered barriers stemming from sources either limited in tuning range or excessively bulky for practical field use. We present a compact, efficient, and broadly tunable optical parametric oscillator (OPO) device surmounting these challenges. Leveraging a dispersion-engineered singly-resonant OPO implemented in thin-film lithium niobate-on-sapphire, we achieve broad and controlled tuning over an octave, from 1.5 to 3.3 microns by combining laser and temperature tuning. The device generates > 25 mW of mid-infrared light at 3.2 microns, offering a power conversion efficiency of 15% (45% quantum efficiency). We demonstrate the tuning and performance of the device by successfully measuring the spectra of methane and ammonia, verifying our approach's relevance for gas sensing. Our device signifies an important advance in nonlinear photonics miniaturization and brings practical field applications of high-speed and broadband mid-infrared spectroscopy closer to reality.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2307.04199,
title = {Mid-infrared spectroscopy with a broadly tunable thin-film lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator},
author = {Alexander Y. Hwang and Hubert S. Stokowski and Taewon Park and Marc Jankowski and Timothy P. McKenna and Carsten Langrock and Jatadhari Mishra and Vahid Ansari and Martin M. Fejer and Amir H. Safavi-Naeini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.04199},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
19 pages, 11 figures