Optical frequency measurement is an extremely challenging field of experimental physics that is presently undergoing a renaissance of interest and endeavour. The motivation for this rebirth comes from two diverse fronts: the very practical needs of modern high-throughput optical communication systems, and from the more esoteric requirements of high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The inherent challenge of the field arises from the desire for accuracy in the measurement. This requirement demands that the optical measurement be made with reference to the internationally agreed defintion of frequency: a microwave transition in the cesium atom. In the past, a small number of laboratories had succeeded in providing this bridge between the microwave and optical domains in an outstanding feat of ingenuity, overcoming the limits of technology. A much more elegant and simple approach has now become possible using developments in nonlinear optics and femtosecond mode-locked lasers. Application of this modern approach should lead to a new era in which optical frequency measurements become commonplace. This text is the first to discuss, in detail, the development of traditional and second-generation frequency chains together with their enabling technology. Reviews written by some of the most experienced researchers in their respective fields address the technology of frequency metrology, including low-noise and high-stability microwave and optical frequency standards, traditional and second-generation optical frequency measurement and synthesis techniques, and optical frequency comb generators. This text should prove useful to researchers just entering the field of optical frequency metrology or equally well to the experienced practitioner.

Klappentext

This text on precision frequency measurement and its key enabling techniques includes reviews written by some of the most experienced researchers in their respective fields. This text should prove useful to researchers just entering the field of frequency metrology and standards, or equally well to the experienced practitioner.

Inhalt

Low-Noise and Ultrastable Secondary Frequency Standards.- Low-Noise Microwave Resonator-Oscillators: Current Status and Future Developments.- Ultrastable Cryogenic Microwave Oscillators.- Frequency-Temperature Compensation Techniques for High-Q Microwave Resonators.- Laser-Cooled Atom and Trapped-Ion Frequency Standards.- Optical Frequency Standards Based on Neutral Atoms and Molecules.- Cold-Atom Clocks on Earth and in Space.- Single-Ion Optical Frequency Standards and Measurement of their Absolute Optical Frequency.- Recent Developments in Microwave Ion Clocks.- Conventional Optical Frequency Measurement and Mid-Infrared Frequency Standards.- Optical Frequency Measurement by Conventional Frequency Multiplication.- Optical Frequency Measurements Relying on a Mid-Infrared Frequency Standard.- Advanced Optical Frequency Measurement and Synthesis.- Measuring the Frequency of Light with Mode-Locked Lasers.- Generation and Metrological Application of Optical Frequency Combs.- Generation of Expanded Optical Frequency Combs.- Accurate Optical-Frequency Synthesis.