6533b7cffe1ef96bd1258237

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Frequency comb generation by electro-optic modulation and applications

subject

description

The work presented in this thesis relates the development of a dual frequency comb spectrometer based on the electro-optic modulation of a continuous wave laser, and its utilisation for spectroscopic applications in the near- and mid-infrared.Since their discovery in the 1960s, frequency combs have revolutionised the physics, especially in metrology but also in spectroscopy, which lead to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005. In this domain of applications, dual frequency comb spectrometers are known to be complex to develop and use. A possibility to bypass these constraints is to build the spectrometer with electro-optic modulators. This particular architecture makes the experimental setup easy to use, thanks to the all-fibered feature and the lack of enslavement needed.In this manuscript, the work related describe first the architecture of a dual-comb spectrometer based on electro-optic modulators. We will see the advantages and disadvantages of the technique, especially for spectroscopic applications. We will also see the benefits of nonlinear phenomena in optical fibers to improve the experimental setup. Then, we show how the spectral range of the spectrometer can be extended around 2~µm, either by direct electro-optic modulation, or by frequency conversion in specific optical fibers.Finally, we will see the possibility to reach the mid-infrared by using nonlinear crystals. This last spectral extension will allow us to probe a spectral region highly suitable for spectroscopy, and hence to realise specific applications such as exhaled breath analysis.