Technology & market validation study for an infrared spectrometer based on multiphoton absorption

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In all laser laboratories, spectral characterization of ultrafast laser is the most elementary measurement since the spectra and its spectral phase defines the temporal profile of the pulses. While the spectral phase can be retrieved through interferometry with reference pulses or various approaches involving nonlinear optical processes, the spectra is measured with a spectrometer. In the spectral range from ultra-violet to the near infrared, silicon based spectrometer are highly efficient to characterize the spectra of laser sources with commercial devices having up to 4096 pixels, enabling measurements with high sensitivity and spectral resolution. Above 1100 nm, commercial spectrometers require the use of detectors made of different materials, such as InGaAs arrays for the spectral range up to 2500 nm. In the case of InGaAs arrays, the number of pixels for commercial devices is limited to 512, providing a lower spectral resolution compared to silicon based spectrometer. In addition, this material is more sensitive to thermal noise thus requiring a cooling unit such as a thermoelectric one to ensure high sensitivity. This translates into much higher costs for commercial InGaAs spectrometers compared to silicon (12k-25k$ vs 2k-5k$ based on options).** For pulsed laser, multiphoton absorption occurs in material such as silicon. Here, we propose to use these processes to develop a technology entitled "Infrared spectrometer based on multiphoton absorption", to enable spectral measurements up to 2200 nm using two-photon absorption in silicon, and 3300 nm with three-photons. We have already validated this technology between 1300 and 2000 nm where the signal from a silicon detector simply scales with the square of the laser intensity, denoting a two-photon absorption. The advantage of this technology is that it enables the spectral characterization of infrared pulsed laser using conventional detectors used for the visible/near-infrared spectral range, thus offering high sensitivity and high spectral resolution, with a price in the range of 6k$ to 8k$. The technology & market validation study will help to confirm the interest of Canadian and foreign companies for the tech transfer and the commercialization of the proposed technology.******