31 research outputs found
Coherent Control of Mid-Infrared Frequency Comb by Optical Injection of Near-Infrared Light
We demonstrate the use of a low power near-infrared laser illuminating the
front facet of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) as an optical actuator for the
coherent control of a mid-infrared frequency comb. We show that by appropriate
current control of the QCL comb and intensity modulation of the near-infrared
laser, a tight phase lock of a comb line to a distributed feedback laser is
possible with 2 MHz of locking bandwidth and 200 mrad of residual phase noise.
A characterization of the whole scheme is provided showing the limits of the
electrical actuation which we bypassed using the optical actuation. Both comb
degrees of freedom can be locked by performing electrical injection locking of
the repetition rate in parallel. However, we show that the QCL acts as a fast
near-infrared light detector such that injection locking can also be achieved
through modulation of the near-infrared light. These results on the coherent
control of a quantum cascade laser frequency comb are particularly interesting
for coherent averaging in dual-comb spectroscopy and for mid-infrared frequency
comb applications requiring high spectral purity
BFORE: The B-mode Foreground Experiment
The B-mode Foreground Experiment (BFORE) is a proposed NASA balloon project
designed to make optimal use of the sub-orbital platform by concentrating on
three dust foreground bands (270, 350, and 600 GHz) that complement
ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) programs. BFORE will survey ~1/4
of the sky with 1.7 - 3.7 arcminute resolution, enabling precise
characterization of the Galactic dust that now limits constraints on inflation
from CMB B-mode polarization measurements. In addition, BFORE's combination of
frequency coverage, large survey area, and angular resolution enables science
far beyond the critical goal of measuring foregrounds. BFORE will constrain the
velocities of thousands of galaxy clusters, provide a new window on the cosmic
infrared background, and probe magnetic fields in the interstellar medium. We
review the BFORE science case, timeline, and instrument design, which is based
on a compact off-axis telescope coupled to >10,000 superconducting detectors.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, conference proceedings published in Journal of
Low Temperature Physic
Monolithic frequency comb platform based on interband cascade lasers and detectors
Funding: Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the projects "NanoPlas" (P28914-N27), "Building Solidsfor Function" (Project W1243), "NextLite" (F4909-N23), as well as by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency through the ERA-Net Photonic Sensing program, project "ATMO-SENSE" (FFG:861581). H.D. was supported by the ESF project CZ.02.2.69/0.00.0/16_027/0008371. A.M.A was supported by the projects COMTERA - FFG 849614 and AFOSR FA9550-17-1-0340.New insights into the laser dynamics of interband cascade lasers reveal the possibility to generatefrequency modulated combs by utilizing their inherent gain nonlinearity. The resultingcomb state is characterized by chirped instantaneous frequency, which appears to be universalto frequency combs based on gain induced four-wave mixing. The fast dynamics in the injectorsfurther allow the realization of exceptionally sensitive and high-speed photodetectors,operating at room-temperature, using the very same epilayer structure. With the capability ofintegrating frequency combs and ultra-fast detectors on a single chip consuming less than awatt of electric power, interband cascade laser technology provides a complete and unmatchedplatform for future monolithic and battery-driven dual-comb spectrometers.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Picosecond pulses from a mid-infrared interband cascade laser
Funding: Austrian Science Fund (F4909-N23, P28914-N27,W1243); Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft (ATMO-SENSE, ERANet Photonic Sensing program, COMTERA-FFG849614); European Science Foundation (ESF) (CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008371); Air Force Office of Scientific Research(AFOSR FA9550-17-1-0340).The generation of mid-infrared pulses in monolithic and electrically pumped devices is of great interest for mobile spectroscopic instruments. The gain dynamics of interband cascade lasers (ICL) are promising for mode-locked operation at low threshold currents. Here, we present conclusive evidence for the generation of picosecond pulses in ICLs via active mode-locking. At small modulation power, the ICL operates in a linearly chirped frequency comb regime characterized by strong frequency modulation. Upon increasing the modulation amplitude, the chirp decreases until broad pulses are formed. Careful tuning of the modulation frequency minimizes the remaining chirp and leads to the generation of 3.2 ps pulses.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Software systems for operation, control, and monitoring of the EBEX instrument
We present the hardware and software systems implementing autonomous
operation, distributed real-time monitoring, and control for the EBEX
instrument. EBEX is a NASA-funded balloon-borne microwave polarimeter designed
for a 14 day Antarctic flight that circumnavigates the pole. To meet its
science goals the EBEX instrument autonomously executes several tasks in
parallel: it collects attitude data and maintains pointing control in order to
adhere to an observing schedule; tunes and operates up to 1920 TES bolometers
and 120 SQUID amplifiers controlled by as many as 30 embedded computers;
coordinates and dispatches jobs across an onboard computer network to manage
this detector readout system; logs over 3~GiB/hour of science and housekeeping
data to an onboard disk storage array; responds to a variety of commands and
exogenous events; and downlinks multiple heterogeneous data streams
representing a selected subset of the total logged data. Most of the systems
implementing these functions have been tested during a recent engineering
flight of the payload, and have proven to meet the target requirements. The
EBEX ground segment couples uplink and downlink hardware to a client-server
software stack, enabling real-time monitoring and command responsibility to be
distributed across the public internet or other standard computer networks.
Using the emerging dirfile standard as a uniform intermediate data format, a
variety of front end programs provide access to different components and views
of the downlinked data products. This distributed architecture was demonstrated
operating across multiple widely dispersed sites prior to and during the EBEX
engineering flight.Comment: 11 pages, to appear in Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes
and Instrumentation 2010; adjusted metadata for arXiv submissio