Program Overview

Program Overview

The Keck Institute for Space Studies offers a variety of programs, including short courses, workshops, and lectures. One such program is the Short Course: Fundamentals of Optical Frequency Comb Technology and Applications.

Program Description

The Short Course: Fundamentals of Optical Frequency Comb Technology and Applications is a comprehensive program that covers the principles behind state-of-the-art frequency comb technology, including the various methods of comb generation. The program also presents current applications of optical frequency combs (OFCs) and provides an overview of the challenges and considerations needed for engineering space-based OFCs.

Program Presentations

The program features presentations from renowned experts in the field, including:

• S. Diddams, National Institute of Standards and Technology, on the fundamentals of frequency combs: what they are and how they work
• N. Newbury, National Institute of Standards and Technology, on applications of frequency combs
• M. Shao, JPL/Caltech, on space flight considerations for precision optical instruments
• C. Weimer, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, on from the lab to space: comments on instrument qualification

Program Details

The program is held at the Beckman Institute Auditorium, California Institute of Technology, and includes:

• Coffee and registration at 7:30 A.M.
• Short course from 8:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.

Abstract

The advent of optical frequency combs (OFCs) has created remarkable new capabilities in metrology, frequency synthesis, spectroscopy, and timekeeping. An OFC is an optical spectrum consisting of stability-controlled, uniformly spaced lines. OFCs are central to a new generation of clocks that are 100 times more accurate than today's best time-keeping systems, enabling new capabilities for communication, navigation, and tests of fundamental science. Increasingly, OFCs are also impacting other application areas, such as high-resolution broad-band spectroscopy for trace gas detection, precision wavelength calibration in exoplanet detection, coherent control for study of ultrafast dynamics, and measurement improvements in space interferometry, reflectometry, and LIDAR. The miniaturization of OFC technology provided by microcombs offers a host of opportunities for instruments on landers, distributed spacecraft, and CubeSat-scale spacecraft in the next decade.