Abstract
High-precision measurements with molecules may refine our knowledge of various fields of physics, from atmospheric and interstellar physics to the standard model or physics beyond it. Most of them can be cast as absorption frequency measurements, particularly in the mid-infrared âmolecular fingerprintâ region, creating the need for narrow-linewidth lasers of well-controlled frequency. Quantum cascade lasers provide a wide spectral coverage anywhere in the mid-infrared, but show substantial free-running frequency fluctuations. Here, we demonstrate that the excellent stability and accuracy of an ultra-stable near-infrared laser, transferred from a metrological institute through a fibre link, can be copied to a quantum cascade laser using an optical frequency comb. The obtained relative stability and accuracy of 2âÃâ10â15 and 10â14 exceed those demonstrated so far with quantum cascade lasers by almost two orders of magnitude. This set-up enables us to measure molecular absorption frequencies with state-of-the-art uncertainties, confirming its potential for ultra-high-precision spectroscopy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank P.-E. Pottie, G. Santarelli, R. Le Targat and W.-K. Lee for discussions as well as helping with the ultra-stable NIR lasers or the active compensated optical link. The authors also thank S. Tokunaga for reading the manuscript and for helping with linewidth calculations. The authors acknowledge financial support from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR BLANC LIOM 2011 BS04 009 01, ANR QUIGARDE 2012 ANR-12-ASTR-0028-03, ANR NCPCHEM 2010 BLAN 724 3, Labex First-TF ANR 10 LABX 48 01), Action Spécifique Gravitation, Références, Astronomie, Métrologie (GRAM) and Université Paris 13.
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B.A., B.C., O.L., Y.L.C. and A.A.K. conceived and designed the experiment. B.A., B.C., D.N., B.D. and A.A.K. performed the experiment. B.A., O.L., D.N., M.A., C.D., B.D., Y.L.C. and A.A.K. analysed the data. B.A., M.A., B.D., Y.L.C. and A.A.K. contributed materials/analysis tools. All authors discussed the results. B.A., O.L., D.N., M.A., C.C., C.D., B.D., Y.L.C. and A.A.K. wrote the paper.
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Argence, B., Chanteau, B., Lopez, O. et al. Quantum cascade laser frequency stabilization at the sub-Hz level. Nature Photon 9, 456â460 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.93
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.93
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