Rose, CS, McDonald, GS and Christian, JM 2010, White light lasers , in: SEE Celebration of Research, 30th June 2011, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK.

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Abstract

Broadband multiline frequency combs present a wealth of applications, ranging from meteorology, sensing and measurements to those potentially in the domain of attosecond science. We report here on detailed investigations of a novel process that is accompanied by extreme enhancement of the bandwidth of the generated frequencies – resulting in a novel white light laser source. Cavity contexts where efficient broadband multiline generation have been reported include spherical micro-cavities [1], monolithic micro-resonators [2] and so-called ‘bottle micro-resonators’ [3], in which the cavity quality to mode volume ratio ( Q / V ) plays a dominant role in the characteristics of the device and its constituent whispering gallery modes. Typically, maximum quality and low volume lead to the optimal condition of high Q / V. To illustrate distinctiveness from these well-known contexts, we stress that the effects we report can be optimal in either low-Q resonators (with very moderate reflectivities) or larger volume cavities (e.g. with longer cavity lengths).

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