High-accuracy and wide dynamic range frequency-based dispersion spectroscopy in an optical cavity

Dispersive heterodyne cavity ring-down spectroscopy exploiting eigenmode frequencies for high-fidelity measurements

Measuring low light absorption with combined uncertainty <1 per mil (‰) is crucial for many applications. Popular cavity ring-down spectroscopy can provide ultrahigh precision, below 0.01‰, but its accuracy is often worse than 5‰ due to inaccuracies in light intensity measurements. To eliminate this problem, we exploit optical frequency information carried by the ring-down cavity electromagnetic field. Instead of measuring only the decaying light intensity, we perform heterodyne detection of ring-downs followed by Fourier analysis to provide exact frequencies of optical cavity modes and a high-fidelity dispersive spectrum of a gas sample from them. We demonstrate the sub-per-mil accuracy of our method, confirmed by the best ab initio results for CO line intensity and for HD line shape, and the long-term repeatability of our dispersion measurements at 10-4 level. We see potential for our approach in atmospheric remote sensing, isotope ratio metrology, thermometry, and establishment of primary gas standards.

Quadratic-soliton-enhanced mid-IR molecular sensing

Optical solitons have long been of interest both from a fundamental perspective and because of their application potential. Both cubic (Kerr) and quadratic nonlinearities can lead to soliton formation, but quadratic solitons can practically benefit from stronger nonlinearity and achieve substantial wavelength conversion. However, despite their rich physics, quadratic cavity solitons have been used only for broadband frequency comb generation, especially in the mid-infrared. Here, we show that the formation dynamics of mid-infrared quadratic cavity solitons, specifically temporal simultons in optical parametric oscillators, can be effectively leveraged to enhance molecular sensing. We demonstrate significant sensitivity enhancement while circumventing constraints of traditional cavity enhancement mechanisms. We perform experiments sensing CO2 using cavity simultons around 4 μm and achieve an enhancement of 6000. Additionally, we demonstrate large sensitivity at high concentrations of CO2, beyond what can be achieved using an equivalent high-finesse linear cavity by orders of magnitude. Our results highlight a path for utilizing quadratic cavity nonlinear dynamics and solitons for molecular sensing beyond what can be achieved using linear methods.

Cryogenic mirror position actuator for spectroscopic applications

We demonstrate a mirror position actuator that operates in a wide temperature range from room temperature to a deep cryogenic regime (10 K). We use a Michelson interferometer to measure the actuator tuning range (and piezoelectric efficiency) in the full temperature range. We demonstrate an unprecedented range of tunability of the mirror position in the cryogenic regime (over 22 μm at 10 K). The capability of controlling the mirror position in the range from few to few tens of microns is crucial for cavity-enhanced molecular spectroscopy techniques, especially in the important mid-infrared spectral regime where the length of an optical cavity has to be tunable in a range larger than the laser wavelength. The piezoelectric actuator offering this range of tunability in the cryogenic conditions, on the one hand, will enable development of optical cavities operating at low temperatures that are crucial for spectroscopy of large molecules whose dense spectra are difficult to resolve at room temperature. On the other hand, this will enable us to increase the accuracy of the measurement of simple molecules aimed at fundamental studies.

Subpromille Measurements and Calculations of CO (3-0) Overtone Line Intensities

Intensities of lines in the near-infrared second overtone band (3-0) of ^{12}C^{16}O are measured and calculated to an unprecedented degree of precision and accuracy. Agreement between theory and experiment to better than 1‰ is demonstrated by results from two laboratories involving two independent absorption- and dispersion-based cavity-enhanced techniques. Similarly, independent Fourier transform spectroscopy measurements of stronger lines in this band yield mutual agreement and consistency with theory at the 1‰ level. This set of highly accurate intensities can provide an intrinsic reference for reducing biases in future measurements of spectroscopic peak areas.

A data- and model-driven strategy for the evaluation of the experimental transition lines: Theoretical prediction for the ground state of 12C16O

An analytical formula that relates the molecular constants of the Herzberg expression and experimental transition lines is developed herein with a difference algebraic approach (DAA) model. Based on the data-driven strategy, the DAA model is able to deal with the tiny uncertainties that exhibit behind the experimental transition lines, which is applied to the P branch emission spectra of some first overtone bands of the ground electronic state of ¹²C¹⁶O. The relationship can be used to generate transition lines with sufficient accuracy, as evident from the high J of agreement with the HITRAN database, Velichko data, Goorvitch data and quantum-mechanical data. In addition, line intensities, absorption oscillator strengths and Einstein A coefficients of these lines, which are introduced to enhance the dataset and are in good agreement with those of other authors, are also reported to validate our results. These various comparative results show that the proposed data-driven strategy based on the DAA model is expecting to be a good algorithm that relies on relatively limited data for training.

Frequency-based dispersion Lamb-dip spectroscopy in a high finesse optical cavity

Frequency-based cavity mode-dispersion spectroscopy (CMDS), previously applied for Doppler-limited molecular spectroscopy, is now employed for the first time for saturation spectroscopy. Comparison with two intensity-based, cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy techniques, i.e. cavity mode-width spectroscopy (CMWS) and the well-established cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), shows the predominance of the CMDS. The method enables measurements in broader pressure range and shows high immunity of the Lamb dip position to the incomplete model of saturated cavity mode shape. Frequencies of transitions from the second overtone of CO are determined with standard uncertainty below 500 Hz which corresponds to relative uncertainty below 3 × 10^-12. The pressure shift of the Lamb dips, which has not been detected for these transitions in available literature data, is observed.

Improvement of the spectroscopic parameters of the air- and self-broadened N2O and CO lines for the HITRAN2020 database applications

This paper outlines the major updates of the line-shape parameters that were performed for the nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon monoxide (CO) molecules listed in the HITRAN2020 database. We reviewed the collected measurements for the air- and self-broadened N2O and CO spectra to determine proper values for the spectroscopic parameters. Careful comparisons of broadening parameters using the Voigt and speed-dependent Voigt line-shape profiles were performed among various published results for both N2O and CO. Selected data allowed for developing semi-empirical models, which were used to extrapolate/interpolate existing data to update broadening parameters of all the lines of these molecules in the HITRAN database. In addition to the line broadening parameters (and their temperature dependences), the pressure shift values were revised for N2O and CO broadened by air and self for all the bands. The air and self speed-dependence of the broadening parameter for these two molecules were added for every transition as well. Furthermore, we determined the first-order line-mixing parameters using the Exponential Power Gap (EPG) scaling law. These new parameters are now available at HITRAN online.

Ultrahigh finesse cavity-enhanced spectroscopy for accurate tests of quantum electrodynamics for molecules

We report the most accurate, to the best of our knowledge, measurement of the position of the weak quadrupole S(2) 2-0 line in $ {{\rm D}_2} $D₂. The spectra were collected with a frequency-stabilized cavity ringdown spectrometer (FS-CRDS) with an ultrahigh finesse optical cavity ($ {\cal F} = 637 000 $F=637000) and operating in the frequency-agile, rapid scanning spectroscopy (FARS) mode. Despite working in the Doppler-limited regime, we reached 40 kHz of statistical uncertainty and 161 kHz of absolute accuracy, achieving the highest accuracy for homonuclear isotopologues of molecular hydrogen. The accuracy of our measurement corresponds to the fifth significant digit of the leading term in quantum electrodynamics (QED) correction. We observe $ 2.3\sigma $2.3σ discrepancy with the recent theoretical value.

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy of CO2 near λ = 2.06 μm: Accurate transition intensities for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) "strong band"

The λ = 2.06 μm absorption band of CO₂ is widely used for the remote sensing of atmospheric carbon dioxide, making it relevant to many important top-down measurements of carbon flux. The forward models used in the retrieval algorithms employed in these measurements require increasingly accurate line intensity and line shape data from which absorption cross-sections can be computed. To overcome accuracy limitations of existing line lists, we used frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy to measure 39 transitions in the ¹²C¹⁶O₂ absorption band. The line intensities were measured with an estimated relative combined standard uncertainty of u _r = 0.08 %. We predicted the J-dependence of the measured intensities using two theoretical models: a one-dimensional spectroscopic model with Herman-Wallis rotation-vibration corrections, and a line-by-line ab initio dipole moment surface model [Zak et al. JQSRT 2016;177:31-42]. For the second approach, we fit only a single factor to rescale the theoretical integrated band intensity to be consistent with the measured intensities. We find that the latter approach yields an equally adequate representation of the fitted J-dependent intensity data and provides the most physically general representation of the results. Our recommended value for the integrated band intensity equal to 7.183 × 10^-21 cm molecule^-1 ± 6 × 10^-24 cm molecule^-1 is based on the rescaled ab initio model and corresponds to a fitted scale factor of 1.0069 ± 0.0002. Comparisons of literature intensity values to our results reveal systematic deviations ranging from -1.16 % to +0.33 %.