Future 'Comb on a Chip': NIST's Compact Frequency Comb Could Go Places (IMAGE)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Future 'Comb on a Chip': NIST's Compact Frequency Comb Could Go Places

Caption

Stack of quartz optical "cavities" -- precisely machined disks of solid quartz crystal -- for use in NIST's compact laser frequency comb. (Only one is actually used.) A low-power infrared laser produces light that travels in a loop inside one of the cavities. Each cavity is 2 millimeters wide and shaped like a flat ellipse.

Credit

S. Papp/NIST

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