Absolute frequency metrology of buffer-gas-cooled molecular spectra at 1 kHz accuracy level.

By reducing both the internal and translational temperature of any species down to a few kelvins, the buffer-gas-cooling (BGC) technique has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of ro-vibrational molecular spectra, thus offering unique opportunities for transition frequency measurements with unprecedented accuracy. However, the difficulty in integrating metrological-grade spectroscopic tools into bulky cryogenic equipment has hitherto prevented from approaching the kHz level even in the best cases. Here, we overcome this drawback by an original opto-mechanical scheme which, effectively coupling a Lamb-dip saturated-absorption cavity ring-down spectrometer to a BGC source, allows us to determine the absolute frequency of the acetylene (ν + ν) R(1)e transition at 6561.

Tunable Microcavity-Stabilized Quantum Cascade Laser for Mid-IR High-Resolution Spectroscopy and Sensing.

The need for highly performing and stable methods for mid-IR molecular sensing and metrology pushes towards the development of more and more compact and robust systems. Among the innovative solutions aimed at answering the need for stable mid-IR references are crystalline microresonators, which have recently shown excellent capabilities for frequency stabilization and linewidth narrowing of quantum cascade lasers with compact setups. In this work, we report on the first system for mid-IR high-resolution spectroscopy based on a quantum cascade laser locked to a CaF₂ microresonator.

High finesse optical cavity coupled with a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopic sensor.

An ultra-sensitive and selective quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) combined with a high-finesse cavity sensor platform is proposed as a novel method for trace gas sensing. We call this technique Intra-cavity QEPAS (I-QEPAS). In the proposed scheme, a single-mode continuous wave quantum cascade laser (QCL) is coupled into a bow-tie optical cavity.

Low-power Lamb-dip spectroscopy of very weak CO(2) transitions near 4.25 mum.

We report saturated-absorption spectra recorded by use of 5 muW of infrared radiation coupled into a build-up cavity. Single-pass generation of difference-frequency radiation tunable near 4.25 mum in a periodically poled LiNbO(3) crystal was used.

Reflection and refraction of narrow Gaussian beams with general astigmatism at tilted optical surfaces: a derivation oriented toward lens design.

The formulas for the reflection and refraction of a narrow Gaussian beam with general astigmatism at a tilted optical surface are derived by ray-tracing techniques. The propagation direction of the reflected and refracted beams is computed by tracing the central ray of the incident beam, and the characteristic parameters of the respective wavefronts are worked out by applying the formulas developed for the generalized ray tracing. Moreover, the Gaussian form of the reflected and refracted amplitude distributions along the transverse coordinates is determined by requiring the matching of the incident, reflected, and refracted light spots on the optical surface.