Dual-comb spectroscopy
US11293861B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 24, 2020 |
| Grant date | Apr 5, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 24, 2040 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01S5/4012
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A dual-comb spectrometer 5 with two lasers 10, 12 serving as a local oscillator and an interrogator. The lasers output light beams with respective frequency combs C1, C2 of defined free spectral range, FSR. A detector 30 can detect heterodyne mixing of the combined beams to detect an RF frequency comb C3. Respective control signals are supplied to the lasers which have functional forms configured to cause the frequencies of the lasers' frequency combs C1, C2 to tune over a defined fraction of their FSR. This enables a reduction of the effective spectral sampling period by a factor equal to the ratio of the FSR to the spectral resolution of the spectrometer, which will typically be several orders of magnitude, so that the spectral sampling period can be reduced from the GHz to the MHz range, which in turn enables a gapless spectrum to be obtained in a short time.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.