Frequency combs

Abstract

Much of modern research in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical science relies on lasers, which were invented some 50 years ago and perfected in five decades of intense research and development. Today, lasers and photonic technologies impact most fields of science and they have become indispensible in our daily lives. Laser frequency combs were conceived a decade ago as tools for the precision spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen. Through the development of optical frequency comb techniques, optical frequency comb technique a setup of the size 10×100m2, good for precision measurements of any frequency, and even commercially available, has replaced the elaborate previous frequency-chain schemes for optical frequency measurements, which only worked for selected frequencies. A true revolution in optical frequency measurements has occurred, paving the way for the creation of all-optical clocks all-optical clock with a precision that might approach 10−18. A decade later, frequency combs are now common equipment in all frequency metrology-oriented laboratories. They are also becoming enabling tools for an increasing number of applications, from the calibration of astronomical spectrographs to molecular spectroscopy. This chapter first describes the principle of an optical frequency comb synthesizer. Some of the key technologies to generate such a frequency comb are then presented. Finally, a non-exhaustive overview of the growing applications is given.