• Featured in Physics
  • Milestone
  • Free to Read

Direct Link between Microwave and Optical Frequencies with a 300 THz Femtosecond Laser Comb

Scott A. Diddams, David J. Jones, Jun Ye, Steven T. Cundiff, John L. Hall, Jinendra K. Ranka, Robert S. Windeler, Ronald Holzwarth, Thomas Udem, and T. W. Hänsch
Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 5102 – Published 29 May 2000
Physics logo
An article within the collection: The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light and the Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective
PDFExport Citation

Abstract

We demonstrate a great simplification in the long-standing problem of measuring optical frequencies in terms of the cesium primary standard. An air-silica microstructure optical fiber broadens the frequency comb of a femtosecond laser to span the optical octave from 1064 to 532 nm, enabling us to measure the 282 THz frequency of an iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG laser directly in terms of the microwave frequency that controls the comb spacing. Additional measurements of established optical frequencies at 633 and 778 nm using the same femtosecond comb confirm the accepted uncertainties for these standards.

  • Received 17 February 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.5102

©2000 American Physical Society

Collections

This article appears in the following collections:

The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light

The editors of the Physical Review journals revisit papers that represent important breakthroughs in the field of optics.

Letters from the Past - A PRL Retrospective

2008 marked PRL’s 50th anniversary. As part of the celebrations a collection of milestone Letters was started. The collection contains Letters that have made long-lived contributions to physics, either by announcing significant discoveries, or by initiating new areas of research.

Authors & Affiliations

Scott A. Diddams*, David J. Jones, Jun Ye, Steven T. Cundiff, and John L. Hall

  • JILA, University of Colorado, and National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80309

Jinendra K. Ranka and Robert S. Windeler

  • Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, 700 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, New Jersey 070974

Ronald Holzwarth, Thomas Udem, and T. W. Hänsch

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, 85748 Garching, Germany

  • *Current address: NIST, Time and Frequency Division, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303.
  • Email address: jhall@jila.colorado.edu

See Also

Counting the Ripples in a Light Wave

Phys. Rev. Focus 5, 24 (2000)

Nobel Focus: Photons at the Forefront

Don Monroe
Phys. Rev. Focus 16, 13 (2005)

References

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 84, Iss. 22 — 29 May 2000

Reuse & Permissions

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×