Grant: Idea to Innovation

Light provides an ideal tool to analyze materials, due to its composition of various frequencies which correspond to different energies. A prerequisite for the identification and characterization of materials is access to their chemical composition. This is given by mid-infrared photonics (2 to 20 microns) whose frequencies match the natural scales of vibrational modes in materials. A tremendous economic growth is expected in the upcoming years in this important field of research and technological activities. Major scientific projects and industrial applications require reliable light sources and detectors operating in this specific spectral range. While today's general light sources in this range are narrowband and tunable, we propose a new approach to deliver all required frequencies at once. The approach does not require complex femtosecond lasers as others do but only a simple nanosecond driving laser to enable supercontinuum light generation in a spatially coherent beam. Using a specifically fanned crystal, the frequencies are generated using the process of Optical Parametric Generation. A certain period within this crystal leads to a certain frequency component when pumped by a powerful laser, such that all generated colors appear lined up besides each other. These frequencies are recombined into a single beam using Fourier optical processing. This technology, called Frequency domain Optical Parametric Generation (FOPG), has already been demonstrated with supercontinuum spanning from 1.5 to 2 microns. A market study funded by the NSERC I2I program and INRS has demonstrated a huge commercial interest for such a technology. In particular, the spectral range of 2 to 5 microns has been identified as a priority towards the development of commercial FOPG devices. Therefore, in the context of this I2I phase I project, our team will extend the technology to this spectral range. We are already in contact with several companies (e.g. O/E-Land Inc. and few-cycle Inc.) and end-users (e.g. Photon etc. and DRDC) for the steps following this effort with the ultimate goal to involve Canadian companies in the manufacturing and commercialization of future FOPG devices.