Abstract
We have locked the frequency of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) to that of a far-infrared gas laser with a tunable microwave offset frequency. The locked QCL line shape is essentially Gaussian, with linewidths of 65 and at the and levels, respectively. The lock condition can be maintained indefinitely, without requiring temperature or bias current regulation of the QCL other than that provided by the lock error signal. The result demonstrates that a terahertz QCL can be frequency controlled with 1-part-in- accuracy, which is a factor of 100 better than that needed for a local oscillator in a heterodyne receiver for atmospheric and astronomic spectroscopy.
© 2005 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
P. Khosropanah, A. Baryshev, W. Zhang, W. Jellema, J. N. Hovenier, J. R. Gao, T. M. Klapwijk, D. G. Paveliev, B. S. Williams, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, J. L. Reno, B. Klein, and J. L. Hesler
Opt. Lett. 34(19) 2958-2960 (2009)
M. Ravaro, C. Manquest, C. Sirtori, S. Barbieri, G. Santarelli, K. Blary, J.-F. Lampin, S. P. Khanna, and E. H. Linfield
Opt. Lett. 36(20) 3969-3971 (2011)
Joshua R. Freeman, Lalitha Ponnampalam, Haymen Shams, Reshma A. Mohandas, Cyril C. Renaud, Paul Dean, Lianhe Li, A. Giles Davies, Alwyn J. Seeds, and Edmund H. Linfield
Optica 4(9) 1059-1064 (2017)