Abstract
We report the first full stabilization of an optical frequency comb generated from a femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) operating in the 1.5-μm spectral region. The stability of the comb is characterized in free-running and in phase-locked operation by measuring the noise properties of the carrier-envelope offset (CEO) beat, of the repetition rate, and of a comb line at 1558 nm. The high Q-factor of the semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM)-modelocked 1.5-µm DPSSL results in a low-noise CEO-beat, for which a tight phase lock can be much more easily realized than for a fiber comb. Using a moderate feedback bandwidth of only 5.5 kHz, we achieved a residual integrated phase noise of 0.72 rad rms for the locked CEO, which is one of the smallest values reported for a frequency comb system operating in this spectral region. The fractional frequency stability of the CEO-beat is 20‑fold better than measured in a standard self-referenced commercial fiber comb system and contributes only 10(-15) to the optical carrier frequency instability at 1 s averaging time.
Highlights
Self-referenced optical frequency combs from femtosecond lasers have enabled impressive progress in numerous research areas such as precision time and frequency metrology [1, 2] and high-resolution spectroscopy [3,4,5]
We report the first full stabilization of an optical frequency comb generated from a femtosecond diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) operating in the 1.5-μm spectral region
We have demonstrated the first fully stabilized optical frequency comb from a DPSSL in the 1.5-μm spectral region, and we have carefully characterized its noise properties
Summary
Self-referenced optical frequency combs from femtosecond lasers have enabled impressive progress in numerous research areas such as precision time and frequency metrology [1, 2] and high-resolution spectroscopy [3,4,5]. Owing to several important advantages such as their compactness, robustness, efficient diode pumping and low cost, Er-fiber combs have emerged as a valuable alternative to Ti:sapphire laser combs in the past years and constitute a commonly-used comb technology They have the further advantage of covering the 1.5-μm transmission window of optical fibers, so that the broad laser spectrum can be distributed over large distances through proper noise-cancellation fiber links for simultaneous comparison of distant optical and microwave frequency standards [15]. The ultrafast laser oscillator is based on a SESAM-modelocked diode-pumped Er:Yb:glass laser that we refer to as the ERGO [35] With this laser, a clean CEO beat signal suitable for self-referencing [9] was previously obtained [31] and we demonstrate and characterize here the full stabilization of this comb. A 20-fold improvement in the CEO fractional frequency stability is shown compared to a commercial self-referenced fiber comb emitting in the same 1.5-μm spectral region
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