Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  Optical frequency combs bring new capabilities in precision laser measurements. At its simplest level, a frequency comb provides an optical spectrum comprised of a series of equally-spaced spectral lines at precisely known optical frequencies, and is often referred to as an "optical frequency ruler". Their initial application was to support the next generation of optical clocks with fractional frequency accuracies below 10-18.  However, the utility of frequency combs is not limited to optical clocks and they are being explored for a growing number of applications that include time/frequency transfer, precise distance measurements, low phase-noise microwave generation, and precision spectroscopy. I will discuss the concept and design of frequency combs, and several different applications including transferring a clock’s time over the air with femtosecond precision and accurate measurements of greenhouse gases.

Biography:  Nathan Newbury leads the Fiber Sources and Applications group at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder CO.  He and his colleagues focus on applications of highly coherent fiber-laser frequency combs to frequency transfer, metrology and precision spectroscopy. Before joining NIST in 2001, he worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory for five years.  He received a Ph.D from Princeton University in 1992, where he co-authored "Princeton Problems in Physics". He has received the Bronze medal, Silver medal, and Fleming award from the Department of Commerce. He is a fellow of  NIST and the OSA .