Femtosecond optical parametric oscillators toward real-time dual-comb spectroscopy

Abstract

We demonstrate mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy with an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) toward real-time field measurement. A singly resonant OPO based on a MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal is demonstrated. Chirped mirrors are used to compensate the dispersion caused by the optical cavity and the crystal. A low threshold of 17 mW has been achieved. The OPO source generates a tunable idler frequency comb between 2.7 and 4.7 μm. Dual-comb spectroscopy is achieved by coupling two identical Yb-fiber mode-locked lasers to this OPO with slightly different repetition frequencies. A measured absorption spectrum of methane is presented with a spectral bandwidth of $$300\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}$$ , giving an instrumental resolution of $$0.4\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}$$ . In addition, a second OPO containing two MgO-doped PPLN crystals in a singly resonant ring cavity is demonstrated. As such, this OPO generates two idler combs (average power up to 220 mW), covering a wavelength range between 2.7 and 4.2 μm, from which a mid-infrared dual-comb Fourier transform spectrometer is constructed. By detecting the heterodyned signal between the two idler combs, broadband spectra of molecular gases can be observed over a spectral bandwidth of more than $$350\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}$$ . This special cavity design allows the spectral resolution to be improved to $$0.2\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}$$ without locking the OPO cavity, indicating that this OPO represents an ideal high-power broadband mid-infrared source for real-time gas sensing.