Two-crystal mid-infrared optical parametric oscillator for absorption and dispersion dual-comb spectroscopy

We present a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) containing two magnesium-doped periodically poled lithium niobate crystals in a singly resonant ring cavity, pumped by two mode-locked Yb-fiber lasers. As such, the OPO generates two idler combs (up to 220 mW), covering a wavelength range from 2.7 to 4.2 mu m, from which a mid-infrared dual-comb Fourier transform spectrometer is constructed. By detecting the heterodyning signal between the two idler beams a full broadband spectrum of a molecular gas can be observed over 250 cm(-1) within 70 mu s with a spectral resolution of 15 GHz. The absorption and dispersion spectra of acetylene and methane have been measured around 3000 cm(-1), indicating that this OPO represents an ideal broadband mid-infrared source for fast chemical sensing. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America