Optical frequency combs from high-order sideband generation

Darren C. Valovcin, Hunter B. Banks, Shawn Mack, Arthur C. Gossard, Kenneth West, Loren Pfeiffer, Mark S. Sherwin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on the generation of frequency combs from the recently-discovered phenomenon of high-order sideband generation (HSG). A near-band gap continuous-wave (cw) laser with frequency fNIR was transmitted through an epitaxial layer containing GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells that were driven by quasi-cw in-plane electric fields FTHz between 4 and 50 kV/cm oscillating at frequencies fTHz between 240 and 640 GHz. Frequency combs with teeth at fsideband = fNIR + n fTHz (n even) were produced, with maximum reported n > 120, corresponding to a maximum comb span > 80 THz. Comb spectra with the identical product fTHz × FTHz were found to have similar spans and shapes in most cases, as expected from the picture of HSG as a scattering-limited electron-hole recollision phenomenon. The HSG combs were used to measure the frequency and linewidth of our THz source as a demonstration of potential applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)29807-29816
Number of pages10
JournalOptics Express
Volume26
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 12 2018
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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