Optical frequency combs generated mechanically

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...

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...

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...

Ultra broadband microwave frequency combs generated by an optical pulse-injected semiconductor laser.

We have demonstrated and characterized the generation of ultra broadband microwave frequency combs with an optical pulse-injected semiconductor laser. Through optical pulse injection, the microwave frequency combs generated in the slave laser (SL) have bandwidths greater than 20 GHz within a +/-5 dB amplitude variation, which is almost 3-fold of the 7 GHz relaxation oscillation frequency of the...

Distribution of an Ultrastable Frequency Reference Using Optical Frequency Combs