Abstract
Recently, a novel type of molecular THz laser with ~mW-level output power was demonstrated [1,2]. This laser is optically pumped by a mid-IR Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL), therefore resulting in a much more compact, frequency agile and deployable source compared to standard, CO2-laser pumped, far-infrared gas lasers. This achievement has revived the interest for molecular THz lasers, in particular for their exploitation as low-phase noise THz local oscillators (LOs) operating at room temperature. Compared to CO2–laser pumping, a QCL pump offers an unrivalled frequency agility that allows accessing an unprecedented number of molecular transitions. On the other hand, its lower frequency stability can potentially impact the frequency noise of the THz laser source [3-5]. Here we report the first measurement of the frequency noise power spectral density (PSD) of a 1.073THz ammonia laser pumped by a 10.3µm QCL. This is achieved by using a commercial harmonic mixer to generate a beating between the ammonia laser frequency and the 1080th harmonic of the 1GHz repetition rate of a custom-made, 1560nm frequency comb (FC).
© 2019 IEEE
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