High-coherence mid-infrared frequency comb

We report on the generation of a frequency comb around 4330 nm with an unprecedented coherence of the single teeth. Generating the comb within a Ti:sapphire laser cavity by a difference-frequency process and using a phase-lock scheme based on direct digital synthesis, we achieve a tooth linewidth of 2.0 kHz in a 1-s timescale (750 Hz in 20 ms). The generated per-tooth power of 1 mu W ranks this comb among the best ever realized in the mid-infrared in terms of power spectral density. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America