78 research outputs found
A Near Infrared Laser Frequency Comb for High Precision Doppler Planet Surveys
We discuss the laser frequency comb as a near infrared astronomical
wavelength reference, and describe progress towards a near infrared laser
frequency comb at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and at the
University of Colorado where we are operating a laser frequency comb suitable
for use with a high resolution H band astronomical spectrograph.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Conference Proceedings, New Technologies for
Probing the Diversity of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets, Shanghai, China, 19-24
July, 2009. Submitted to Eur. Phys. J. Conference
Optical Frequency Comb Generation based on Erbium Fiber Lasers
Citation: Droste, S., Ycas, G., Washburn, B. R., Coddington, I., & Newbury, N. R. (2016). Optical Frequency Comb Generation based on Erbium Fiber Lasers. Nanophotonics, 5(2), 196-213. doi:10.1515/nanoph-2016-0019Optical frequency combs have revolutionized optical frequency metrology and are being actively investigated in a number of applications outside of pure optical frequency metrology. For reasons of cost, robustness, performance, and flexibility, the erbium fiber laser frequency comb has emerged as the most commonly used frequency comb system and many different designs of erbium fiber frequency combs have been demonstrated. We review the different approaches taken in the design of erbium fiber frequency combs, including the major building blocks of the underlying mode-locked laser, amplifier, supercontinuum generation and actuators for stabilization of the frequency comb
A near infrared frequency comb for Y+J band astronomical spectroscopy
Radial velocity (RV) surveys supported by high precision wavelength
references (notably ThAr lamps and I2 cells) have successfully identified
hundreds of exoplanets; however, as the search for exoplanets moves to cooler,
lower mass stars, the optimum wave band for observation for these objects moves
into the near infrared (NIR) and new wavelength standards are required. To
address this need we are following up our successful deployment of an H
band(1.45-1.7{\mu}m) laser frequency comb based wavelength reference with a
comb working in the Y and J bands (0.98-1.3{\mu}m). This comb will be optimized
for use with a 50,000 resolution NIR spectrograph such as the Penn State
Habitable Zone Planet Finder. We present design and performance details of the
current Y+J band comb.Comment: Submitted to SPIE, conference proceedings 845
Demonstration of a Near-IR Laser Comb for Precision Radial Velocity Measurements in Astronomy
We describe a successful effort to produce a laser comb around 1.55 m in
the astronomical H band using a method based on a line-referenced,
electro-optical-modulation frequency comb. We discuss the experimental setup,
laboratory results, and proof of concept demonstrations at the NASA Infrared
Telescope Facility (IRTF) and the Keck-II telescope. The laser comb has a
demonstrated stability of 200 kHz, corresponding to a Doppler precision of
~0.3 m/s. This technology, when coupled with a high spectral resolution
spectrograph, offers the promise of 1 m/s radial velocity precision suitable
for the detection of Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of cool M-type
stars
Coherent ultra-violet to near-infrared generation in silica ridge waveguides
Short duration, intense pulses of light can experience dramatic spectral broadening when propagating through lengths of optical fibre. This continuum generation process is caused by a combination of nonlinear optical effects including the formation of dispersive waves. Optical analogues of Cherenkov radiation, these waves allow a pulse to radiate power into a distant spectral region. In this work, efficient and coherent dispersive wave generation of visible to ultraviolet light is demonstrated in silica waveguides on a silicon chip. Unlike fibre broadeners, the arrays provide a wide range of emission wavelength choices on a single, compact chip. This new capability is used to simplify offset frequency measurements of a mode-locked frequency comb. The arrays can also enable mode-locked lasers to attain unprecedented tunable spectral reach for spectroscopy, bioimaging, tomography and metrology
Near field modal noise reduction using annealed optical fiber
Incomplete and unstable mode population has long complicated the application of optical fiber for transferring star and calibration light to high precision spectrographs. The need for improved precision calibrators in support of radial velocity planet surveys has led to the introduction of coherent wavelengths sources using single mode fibers that are then coupled into multi-mode fibers, further exacerbating this problem. We explore mode scrambling in annealed optical fiber with and without agitation, as compared to that obtained using octagonal fiber and using an integrating sphere. We observe improved scrambling with annealed fibers compared to conventional and octagonal fibers
A High-Resolution Atlas of Uranium-Neon in the H Band
We present a high-resolution (R ~ 50 000) atlas of a uranium-neon (U/Ne)
hollow-cathode spectrum in the H-band (1454 nm to 1638 nm) for the calibration
of near-infrared spectrographs. We obtained this U/Ne spectrum simultaneously
with a laser-frequency comb spectrum, which we used to provide a first-order
calibration to the U/Ne spectrum. We then calibrated the U/Ne spectrum using
the recently-published uranium line list of Redman et al. (2011), which is
derived from high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer measurements. These
two independent calibrations allowed us to easily identify emission lines in
the hollow cathode lamp that do not correspond to known (classified) lines of
either uranium or neon, and to compare the achievable precision of each source.
Our frequency comb precision was limited by modal noise and detector effects,
while the U/Ne precision was limited primarily by the signal-to-noise ratio
(S/N) of the observed emission lines and our ability to model blended lines.
The standard deviation in the dispersion solution residuals from the
S/N-limited U/Ne hollow cathode lamp were 50% larger than the standard
deviation of the dispersion solution residuals from the modal-noise-limited
laser frequency comb. We advocate the use of U/Ne lamps for precision
calibration of near-infrared spectrographs, and this H-band atlas makes these
lamps significantly easier to use for wavelength calibration.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, submitted and accepted in ApJSS. Online-only
material to be published online by ApJS
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