Heterodyne gas cell measurements at 2.9 THz using a quantum cascade laser as local oscillator

Abstract

High-resolution heterodyne spectrometers operating at above 2 THz are crucial for detecting, e.g., the HD line at 2.7 THz and oxygen OI line at 4.7 THz in astronomy. The potential receiver technology is a combination of a hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer and a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) local oscillator (LO).Here we report the first highresolution heterodyne spectroscopy measurement of a gas cell using such a HEB-QCL receiver. The receiver employs a 2.9 THz free-running QCL as local oscillator and a NbN HEB as a mixer. By using methanol (CH3OH) gas as a signal source, we successfully recorded the methanol emission line at 2.92195 THz. Spectral lines at IF frequency at different pressures were measured using a FFTS and well fitted with a Lorentzian profile. Our gas cell measurement is a crucial demonstration of the QCL as LO for practical heterodyne instruments. Together with our other experimental demonstrations, such as using a QCL at 70 K to operate a HEB mixer and the phase locking of a QCL such a receiver is in principle ready for a next step, which is to build a real instrument for any balloon-, air-, and space-borne observatory.