Tunable UV ∼ IR frequency comb generation via high-order sideband generation

Abstract

We propose the generation of a widely tunable UV-to-IR frequency comb by high-order sideband generation (HSB) spectrum emitted from semiconductors. In our theoretical simulations, we demonstrate the high-order sideband signals of two series (2m Ωseed + (2n + 1) ωdriver, and (2m + 1) Ωseed + 2 nωdriver ), where m and n are integers of a seed pulse and a driver laser frequency, respectively. The simulations also reveal the intensity of HSB scale with the driver laser power, both perturbatively and non-perturbatively. We find that the harmonic position and spacing of the high-order sideband emission can be controlled by varying the seed pulse and driver photon energies. In the experiment, we applied a visible ( ℏΩseed = 3.1 eV, ∼400 nm) seed pulse and mid-infrared (MIR, ℏωdriver = 0.4 eV, 3.1 μm) driver pulses to ZnSe target. Our experimental observations confirmed the UV (4.7 eV, 263 nm and 3.9 eV, 317 nm) HSB generation.