Advances in Optical Frequency Combs and their Applications

Date
Dec 7, 2016, 4:30 pm4:30 pm
Location
E-Quad, B205

Speaker

Details

Event Description

Abstract:
Recent advances in the development of optical frequency combs based on both mode-locked lasers and micro-resonator devices will be reviewed.   Precision frequency synthesis with these laser-based tools is enabling a range of applications in mid-infrared spectroscopy and trace gas sensing, optical clocks, waveform synthesis and astronomy.
 
Bio:
Scott Diddams is a Fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a Professor Adjoint at the University of Colorado.  His research interests are in the fields of precision spectroscopy and metrology, nonlinear optics, microwave photonics and ultrafast lasers.  He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of New Mexico in 1996, and did postdoctoral work at JILA, NIST and the University of Colorado from 1996 through 2000.  Since 2000, Diddams has been a staff member at NIST.  With his group and colleagues at NIST, he has developed optical frequency combs and pioneered their use in optical clocks, tests of fundamental physics, novel spectroscopy in the visible and mid-infrared, and ultralow noise frequency synthesis.  In recent years, special attention has been given to high repetition rate laser-based and microresonator frequency combs, which are being explored for applications in microwave photonics and astronomy.
 
This seminar is supported with funds from the Korhammer Lecture Series