Electrically Pumped Interband Cascade (EPIC) Optical Frequency Combs
Abstract
Rice University (Rice) and its partners at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will develop a compact Electrically Pumped Interband Cascade (EPIC) optical frequency comb sensor system based on a highly efficient passively mode-locked interband cascade laser. The compact EPIC source operating in the mid-infrared 3-4 µm wavelength range will be an enabling technology for the next generation of spectroscopic chemical sensor systems, since the proposed EPIC optical comb will be the only optical source to efficiently access the 3-4 µm wavelength region with broad bandwidth, low drive power as well as high efficiency. The reduced power dissipation combined with wall-plug efficiencies will lead to lower cooling requirements and consequently a much smaller system size and weight. The proposed passively mode-locked ICLS offers a more direct, stable and efficient optical comb generation scheme as compared to alternative mid-infrared frequency comb generation techniques such as frequency down-conversion of a near-infrared comb through optical parametric oscillation and difference frequency generation or CW optical pumping of a micro-resonator. Rice will be responsible for the development and performance evaluation of a mid-infrared cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy (CE-DFCS) system. The CE-DFCS sensors will be designed to detect and identify nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (CH2O), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These four toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) are considered to be potential threats since they are readily available from commercial suppliers. Our choice of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) and diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP). Our research and development project will result in the demonstration of a novel small-footprint sensor system capable of detecting and identifying low concentration of TICs and CWAs with absorption spectra in our targeted mid-infrared spectral range of 3-4 µm. Previous attempts to realize frequency combs in this important mid-IR spectral range have employed down-conversion of a mid-IR comb by means of optical parametric oscillations and difference frequency generation or CW optical pumping of a micro-resonator using an off-chip optical source. While these techniques have provided laboratory demonstrations of combs reaching portions of the 3-4 µm spectroscopic band, practical shortcomings include low output powers, relatively low total efficiencies, and inconvenient integration with other optical components.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 20, 2016
- Source ID
- W31P4Q1610003
Entities
People
- Alexander L. Gaeta
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Rice University