Open Competition 3 - Electronics and Photonics

High-Speed Optical Frequency Metrology for Spectroscopy, Interferometry, and Optical Communications

Sponsor: Precision Photonics Corporation

• Project Performance Period: 6/1/2004 - 12/31/2006
• Total project (est.): $2,945,876.00
• Requested ATP funds: $2,000,000.00

Lasers that could be tuned quickly to specific frequencies of light could save time and money in many applications. Such systems could obtain spectral signatures to identify toxic gases in the air or metabolic chemicals in a hospital patient's breath in real time. However, existing laser measurement and control methods are too slow and costly to enable widespread use of such systems. Precision Photonics Corporation plans a two-year project to develop a femtosecond laser for use as a "ruler" to measure and separate optical frequencies 100 times more accurately than existing methods at speeds 1,000 times faster. Commercial instruments characterize optical frequency indirectly, by measuring wavelength. The proposed technology would measure frequency directly by counting oscillations of light with respect to a known time standard - the NIST atomic clock. The idea is difficult to implement because even advanced electronics are not fast enough to observe oscillation frequencies of light. Precision's approach involves generating and stabilizing a "comb" of equally spaced optical frequencies, to which a tunable laser can be compared, in a compact, rugged, and affordable package. The comb will be a mode-locked diode laser that generates pulses of light shorter than 250 femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). The techniques have been demonstrated in laboratories but there is substantial risk involved in converting them into an industrial tool. ATP funding will accelerate the research by three years and is necessary because the time frame to profitability is too long for venture capital investment. The project addresses industry infrastructure, making the potential payoff relatively small for a venture capitalist, but large for the U.S. economy as a whole. If successful, the project will make possible frequency measurements with part-per-billion accuracy in microseconds. Faster and more accurate metrology tools would increase productivity in multibillion dollar industries such as optical communications and semiconductors, enabling higher communications speeds and better characterization and control of semiconductor wafers. In addition, the technology could improve medical diagnoses, machine tool precision, alignment of aircraft parts during manufacturing, and satellite remote sensing.

For project information:

Nick Traggis, (303) 444-9948
ntraggis@precisionphotonics.com

ATP Project Manager

Thomas Lettieri, (301) 975-3496
thomas.lettieri@nist.gov