Molecular fingerprint-region spectroscopy from 5 to 12 μm using an orientation-patterned gallium phosphide optical parametric oscillator

• DOI: 10.1364/ol.41.004261
• Publication Date: 2016-09-08T12:58:19Z
• Authors: Luke Maidment; Peter G. Schunemann; Derryck T. Reid
• Keywords: Gallium phosphide; Fourier transform spectroscopy

We report a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on the new semiconductor gain material orientation-patterned gallium phosphide (OP-GaP), which enables production of high-repetition-rate pulses spanning 5-12 μm with average powers in few to tens milliwatts range. This is first example broadband OPO operating across molecular fingerprint region, and we demonstrate its potential by conducting Fourier-transform spectroscopy using water vapor polystyrene reference standard.