Scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany and NIST in the US have developed the first optical frequency comb that displays visibly distinct “teeth” across the visible light spectrum. The comb, which looks like a comb when viewed through a simple optical system, is produced by a dime-sized laser that generates super-fast, super-short pulses of light containing tens of thousands of different frequencies.
The new comb, described in the October 30 issue of Science, will be an important tool for various applications in astronomy, communications, and other fields. It will be particularly useful for calibrating astronomical instruments and could boost the sensitivity of planet-finding tools by up to 100 times. The laser used to create the comb was developed by Albrecht Bartels at the University of Konstanz, while the frequency comb was built and demonstrated in the lab of NIST physicist Scott Diddams in Boulder, Colorado.
Keywords: Frequency, Comb, Laser, Pulses, Spectrometer
