Mohandas, RA;
Ponnampalam, L;
Li, L;
Dean, P;
Seeds, AJ;
Linfield, EH;
Giles Davies, A;
(2020)
Exact frequency and phase control of a terahertz laser.
Optica
, 7
(9)
p. 1143.
10.1364/optica.395941.
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Abstract
The accuracy of high-resolution spectroscopy depends critically on the stability, frequency control, and traceability available from laser sources. In this work, we report exact tunable frequency synthesis and phase control of a terahertz laser. The terahertz laser is locked by a terahertz injection phase lock loop for the first time, with the terahertz signal generated by heterodyning selected lines from an all-fiber infrared frequency comb generator in an ultrafast photodetector. The comb line frequency separation is exactly determined by a Global Positioning System-locked microwave frequency synthesizer, providing traceability of the terahertz laser frequency to primary standards. The locking technique reduced the heterodyne linewidth of the terahertz laser to a measurement instrument-limited linewidth of <1Hz, robust against short- and long-term environmental fluctuations. The terahertz laser frequency can be tuned in increments determined only by the microwave synthesizer resolution, and the phase of the laser, relative to the reference, is independently and precisely controlled within a range ±0.3π. These findings are expected to enable applications in phase-resolved high-precision terahertz gas spectroscopy and radiometry.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Exact frequency and phase control of a terahertz laser |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1364/optica.395941 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1364/optica.395941 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10110266 |
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