Abstract

Frequency combs with gigahertz instead of megahertz spacing offer more power per mode and require a smaller resolution to access the individual optical lines. Therefore they are auspicious for various applications, such as calibration of astronomical spectrometers, waveform synthesis, stable microwave generation, and optical clocks [1]. Frequency combs from diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSSLs) in contrast to Ti:sapphire lasers or fiber lasers are advantageous because DPSSLs are reliable, compact, low cost and have a low quantum noise level because of the high-Q cavity operation. The challenge at high repetition rates is to obtain enough peak power to generate a coherent octave-spanning spectrum required for the detection of the carrier envelope offset (CEO) frequency with the standard f-to-2f interferometer approach [2].

© 2011 Optical Society of America