Portable frequency combs for optical frequency metrology

Optical Frequency Combs: From Frequency Metrology to Optical Phase Control

The merging of continuous wave laser-based precision optical-frequency metrology with mode-locked ultrafast lasers has led to precision control of the visible and near-infrared frequency spectrum produced by mode-locked lasers. Such a phase-controlled mode-locked laser forms the foundation of a “femtosecond optical-frequency comb generator” with a regular comb of sharp lines with well-defined f...

Colloquium: Femtosecond optical frequency combs

Recently there has been a remarkable synergy between the technologies of precision laser stabilization and mode-locked ultrafast lasers. This has resulted in control of the frequency spectrum produced by mode-locked lasers, which consists of a regular comb of sharp lines. Thus such a controlled mode-locked laser is a ‘‘femtosecond optical frequency comb generator.’’ For a sufficiently broad com...

Distribution of an Ultrastable Frequency Reference Using Optical Frequency Combs

The tools for precise optical frequency metrology

Femtosecond lasers with a repetition rate of approximately I GHz are commonly used frequency comb generators for precise optical frequency metrology. They are conveniently compact, yield unambiguous frequency readings with the help of a commercial wavemeter, and can yield greater heterodyne beat signals against a cw laser than systems with lower repetition rates. This chapter reviews the techno...

Femtosecond optical parametric oscillator frequency combs

Techniques to measure and manipulate the carrier-envelope phase within femtosecond optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) allow their outputs to be stabilized in a way that produces a frequency comb structure, potentially tunable throughout the transparency band of the gain material. In this review we describe the fundamental principles of phase control, on which the development of singlyand dou...