VIPA spectrometer calibration and comb-cavity locking schemes comparison for sensitive and accurate frequency comb spectroscopy

Abstract

In direct frequency comb spectroscopy with a VIPA spectrometer, the resolution of the spectrometer is usually insufficient to resolve the comb modes. Thus, one can either filter the modes, reducing the density of spectral elements or cope with the inability to uniquely identify spectral elements with individual comb modes by calibrating the spectrometer itself. Here, we present a way to make use of the inherent frequency accuracy of a stabilized frequency comb to calibrate the spectrometer. We also present a comparison between two commonly used schemes to stabilize the coupling between a frequency comb and cavity resonances: the Pound-Drever-Hall locking scheme and the swept coupling scheme.