Dual terahertz comb spectroscopy with a single free-running fibre laser

Abstract Dual terahertz (THz) comb spectroscopy enables high spectral resolution, high spectral accuracy, and broad spectral coverage; however, the requirement for dual stabilized femtosecond lasers hampers its versatility. We here report the first demonstration of dual THz comb spectroscopy using a single free-running fibre laser. By tuning the cavity-loss-dependent gain profile with an intracavity Lyot filter together with precise management of the cavity length and dispersion, dual-wavelength comb light beams with slightly detuned repetition frequencies are generated in a single laser cavity. Due to sharing of the same cavity, such comb light beams suffer from common-mode fluctuation of the repetition frequency, and hence the corresponding frequency difference between them is passively stable around a few hundred hertz within millihertz fluctuation. While greatly reducing the size, complexity, and cost of the laser source by use of a single free-running fibre laser, the dual THz comb spectroscopy system maintains a spectral bandwidth and dynamic range of spectral power comparable to a system equipped with dual stabilized fibre lasers, and can be effectively applied to high-precision spectroscopy of acetonitrile gas at atmospheric pressure. The demonstrated results indicate that this system is an attractive solution for practical applications of THz spectroscopy and other applications.