Photonics Spectra - January 2012

Among the features of the new comb is the wide spacing between the teeth – 10 to 100 times wider than the gaps found in typical larger combs. This spacing allows scientists to measure and manipulate the teeth more easily. The widely spaced teeth can be individually read by astronomical instruments. The combs could thus be used as ultrastable frequency references in the search for Earthlike planets orbiting distant stars.

Portable frequency combs could have other applications also, the researchers said. For example, because a frequency comb can simultaneously generate hundreds of telecommunication channels from a single low-power source, a microcomb eventually might replace the individual lasers now used for each channel in fiber optic telecommunications.

“So far, our compact comb works in the telecom band near
1550 nm,” Papp said. “But to take advantage of the world’s most
precise optical atomic clocks at NIST, we will have to increase
the comb’s spectral range by a factor of 10.”
To do this, Papp said his team will have to learn more about
the mechanisms that control broad-bandwidth generation of the
microcomb spectrum. In addition, they will have to understand
and implement appropriate means to interface the device with
ultrastable atomic clock signals.

“Both of these steps are critical for microcombs to be used as the ‘gears’ of next-generation optical clocks,” Papp said.

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