Progress towards a high frequency comb with mode-locked lasers, and sensor applications

摘要

There are numerous applications that require stabilization of mode-locked lasers. Mode-locked ring laser sensors have been demonstrated to have a sensitivity to rotation of the order of the rotation of the earth, and sensitivity to optical path changes of less than 0.01 Angstroem. These performances could be enhanced by several order of magnitude through stabilization. Stabilized and accurate femtosecond pulse trains have also applications in ultrafast communication, where there is a need to synchronize with subfemtosecond jitter independent sources. We have demonstrated stabilization on a short time scale of both the repetition rate and the average frequency of a mode-locked laser, using an ultra-low expansion quartz reference cavity. We will discuss techniques to extend the short term stabilization to long time scales, by locking the laser to atomic lines.