NIST scientists are developing compact, low-power optical frequency combs that could revolutionize precision measurements and enable portable, affordable high-precision sensors. These microcombs are generated in tiny circular waveguides (microresonators) that use a fraction of the power of traditional lasers. They offer the potential for full photonic integration, allowing frequency combs to be fabricated like computer chips.
The technology could enable ultraprecise sensors for time, fields, forces, and more, with applications in 5G communications, atmospheric gas detection, methane leak detection, and testing biological molecules. NIST researchers have demonstrated phase-coherent microwave-to-optical links and stably accessed octave-spanning microresonator frequency combs in the soliton regime. They are working on integrating these combs with atomic clocks for portable optical clocks with tick rates 100,000 times faster than microwave models.
The technology has potential for widespread deployment in critical applications, including precision long-distance position measurements, ultra-high data rate communications, and calibrating instruments detecting electromagnetic emissions from outer space. NIST scientists expect compact optical combs will eventually make possible ultraprecise sensors based on the interaction of light and matter, with implications for timekeeping, communications, and fundamental physics research.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/noac/technology/quantum-optics-and-radiometry/frequency-combs
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