A high-power Er:Fiber amplifier design allows for generation of <10 fs pulses with 0.5 MW peak power from a 1.5 micron frequency comb using robust telecom technology in a turn-key package. Chi-2 and Chi-3 nonlinear optical processes result in milliwatt and multi-milliwatt infrared generation through intrapulse difference frequency generation, high contrast few-cycle pulse generation through cross phase modulation, and harmonic generation through cascaded quadratic nonlinear processes. Applications such as dual-comb electric field sampled become more accessible with the milliwatt mid-infrared radiation from our source.
We demonstrate the development of broadband, infrared frequency combs tunable from 3 to 27 microns. The source is based on using a robust, few-cycle Er:fiber comb (10 fs pulse duration) to drive intra-pulse difference frequency generation within a quasi-phase-matched nonlinear medium (e.g. periodically poled lithium niobite or orientation patterned gallium phosphide). Since the down-converted light has a longer optical period, the electric field of this longer wave light can be directly sampled by the few-cycle Er:fiber pulse via electro-optic sampling (EOS), directly yielding spectroscopic information on the infrared light. Further, by implementing EOS in a dual frequency comb configuration, we can increase the spectroscopic acquisition speed to a rate of 50 Hz. This dual-comb EOS configuration enables a measurement bandwidth spanning 370 – 3300 cm^-1 with a resolution down to the 100 MHz (0.003 cm^-1) spacing of the infrared comb. Due to the brightness of this comb source and the broad acquisition bandwidth, we can perform high resolution and high sensitivity spectroscopy on chemically and biologically relevant compounds spanning the molecular fingerprint region, with an outlook towards fast acquisition, infrared frequency comb microscopy.
Low-loss nano- and micro-photonic platforms provide strong optical confinement and as a result enhance the effective material nonlinearity by several orders of magnitude, making them appealing candidates for quantum nonlinear photonics. One such platform is based on high-Q crystalline whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators, which can provide for highly efficient three-wave mixing, where even a single photon has a strong effect. We present experimental progress on the fabrication of small microresonators (R⪅100 μm) with Q-factors ≥ 106 that are capable of supporting such strong coupling. We also demonstrate direct imaging of the spatial profiles of the WGMs, which is useful for identifying the phase-matched resonances of three-wave-mixing processes. Additionally, we present theoretical modeling of the cavity dynamics which suggests that single-photon-driven nonlinear processes are feasible in these crystalline microresonators. This crystalline WGM microresonator platform, therefore, can enable deterministic generation of non-classical light, including entangling gates for quantum information processing.
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