• Infrared and Laser Engineering
  • Vol. 50, Issue 11, 20210560 (2021)
Haojing Chen and Yunfeng Xiao
Author Affiliations
  • School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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    DOI: 10.3788/IRLA20210560 Cite this Article
    Haojing Chen, Yunfeng Xiao. Applications of integrated microresonator-based optical frequency combs in precision measurement (Invited)[J]. Infrared and Laser Engineering, 2021, 50(11): 20210560 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    Precision measurement is a cornerstone of modern physics, and the development of laser sources directly promotes the progress of science and technology. In the early 21st century, the invention of the optical frequency comb created the optical atomic clock, the most accurate time/frequency standard device, a lot of precision measurement applications have been implemented, including absolute optical frequency measurement, fundamental physical constants measurement, precision distance measurement and molecular spectroscopy measurement. However, the early comb systems were complex and expensive, and worked in large laboratories, which restricted their application scenarios. In recent years, an integrated microresonator-based optical frequency comb (microcomb) has attracted great attention from the scientific and industrial communities because of its advantages such as compact size, low power consumption and excellent scalability. Different from traditional optical frequency combs, which rely on gain media or saturable absorbers to realize the mode locking, this kind of integrated microcomb benefits from the enhanced nonlinear effect of high-quality factor microcavity to realize the excitation and mode locking of the frequency comb. This new mechanism greatly reduces the volume and cost of optical frequency combs, which has great advantages in civilian-based precision measurement applications. The progress of integrated microresonator-based optical frequency combs in precision measurement applications is introduced, which mainly focuses on miniature optical atomic clock, ultra-fast precision distance measurement and high-precision spectroscopy in this paper. Finally, the opportunities and challenges in the future application of integrated microresonator-based optical frequency combs in precision measurement are summarized and prospected.
    Haojing Chen, Yunfeng Xiao. Applications of integrated microresonator-based optical frequency combs in precision measurement (Invited)[J]. Infrared and Laser Engineering, 2021, 50(11): 20210560
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