Optical Frequency-Comb Generation and High-Resolution Laser Spectroscopy

Abstract

The new alliance between the time and frequency domains in laser spectroscopy has made it possible to develop ultrafast counting schemes that can keep track of single optical oscillations. With this, counting optical oscillations of more than 10(15) cycles in one second has become a simple task. High-resolution spectroscopy for basic research as well as metrology greatly benefits from this technology as it has allowed the highest possible precision. This development has also led to the construction of a all-optical atomic clocks that are expected to outperform current state-of-the-art cesium clocks eventually.