Highly efficient octave-spanning long-wavelength infrared generation with a 74% quantum efficiency in a χ<sup>(2)</sup> waveguide.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37932272.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42912-0 and PMC identifier 10628208.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The realization of compact and efficient broadband mid-infrared (MIR) lasers has enormous impacts in promoting MIR spectroscopy for various important applications. A number of well-designed waveguide platforms have been demonstrated for MIR supercontinuum and frequency comb generations based on cubic nonlinearities, but unfortunately third-order nonlinear response is inherently weak. Here, we propose and demonstrate for the first time a χ<sup>(2)</sup> micrometer waveguide platform based on birefringence phase matching for long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) laser generation with a high quantum efficiency. In a ZnGeP<sub>2</sub>-based waveguide platform, an octave-spanning spectrum covering 5-11 μm is generated through optical parametric generation (OPG). A quantum conversion efficiency of 74% as a new record in LWIR single-pass parametric processes is achieved. The threshold energy is measured as ~616 pJ, reduced by more than 1-order of magnitude as compared to those of MIR OPGs in bulk media. Our prototype micro-waveguide platform could be extended to other χ<sup>(2)</sup> birefringence crystals and trigger new frontiers of MIR integrated nonlinear photonics.