Heterodyne gas cell measurements at 2.9 THz using a quantum cascade laser as local oscillator

Y. Ren; J. R. Gao; J. N. Hovenier; R. Higgins; W. Zhang; A. Bell; B. Klein; T. M. Klapwijk; S. C. Shi; T.-Y. Kao; S. Kumar; Q. Hu; J. L. Reno

doi:10.1117/12.857658

15 July 2010 Heterodyne gas cell measurements at 2.9 THz using a quantum cascade laser as local oscillator

Y. Ren, J. R. Gao, J. N. Hovenier, R. Higgins, W. Zhang, A. Bell, B. Klein, T. M. Klapwijk, S. C. Shi, T.-Y. Kao, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, J. L. Reno

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V; 774118 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857658
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

High-resolution heterodyne spectrometers operating at above 2 THz are crucial for detecting, e.g., the HD line at 2.7 THz and oxygen OI line at 4.7 THz in astronomy. The potential receiver technology is a combination of a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer and a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) local oscillator (LO).Here we report the first highresolution heterodyne spectroscopy measurement of a gas cell using such a HEB-QCL receiver. The receiver employs a 2.9 THz free-running QCL as local oscillator and a NbN HEB as a mixer. By using methanol (CH₃OH) gas as a signal source, we successfully recorded the methanol emission line at 2.92195 THz. Spectral lines at IF frequency at different pressures were measured using a FFTS and well fitted with a Lorentzian profile. Our gas cell measurement is a crucial demonstration of the QCL as LO for practical heterodyne instruments. Together with our other experimental demonstrations, such as using a QCL at 70 K to operate a HEB mixer and the phase locking of a QCL such a receiver is in principle ready for a next step, which is to build a real instrument for any balloon-, air-, and space-borne observatory.

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Y. Ren, J. R. Gao, J. N. Hovenier, R. Higgins, W. Zhang, A. Bell, B. Klein, T. M. Klapwijk, S. C. Shi, T.-Y. Kao, S. Kumar, Q. Hu, and J. L. Reno "Heterodyne gas cell measurements at 2.9 THz using a quantum cascade laser as local oscillator", Proc. SPIE 7741, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V, 774118 (15 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857658

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