Sub‐Nominal Resolution Fourier Transform Spectrometry with Chip‐Based Combs

Abstract

Chip‐based optical frequency combs address the demand for compact, bright, coherent light sources of equidistant phase‐locked lines. Traditionally, the Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FTS) technique is considered a suboptimal choice for resolving comb lines in chip‐based sensing applications due to the requirement of long optical delays, and spectral distortion from the instrumental line shape. Here, a sub‐nominal resolution FTS technique is developed that extracts the comb's offset frequency in any spectral region directly from the measured interferogram without resorting to nonlinear f‐to‐2f interferometry. This in turn enables 10's of MHz resolution spectrometry with millimeter optical retardations currently limited by the emission linewidth and phase noise of the used lasers. Low‐pressure Doppler‐broadened absorption lines probed by widely‐tunable chip‐scale mid‐infrared optical frequen with electrical pumping are fully resolved over a span of tens of nanometers. This versatile technique paves the way for compact, electrostatically‐actuated, or even all‐on‐chip high‐fidelity FTS, and can be readily applied to boost the resolution of existing commercial instruments with compact interferometers several hundred times.