Ultraprecise Laser Spectroscopy and Fundamental Physics

by Theodor W Hänsch (MPI Garching and Univ. Munich)

Tuesday 28 May 2002, 16:30 → 17:30 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

Optical frequency comb techniques are revolutionizing the art of measuring the frequency of light. The complex and highly specialized harmonic laser frequency chains of the past can now be replaced by a universal optical frequency comb synthesizer using just a single mode-locked femtosecond laser. After spectral broadening in a nonlinear optical fibre, such a laser emits a regular comb of hundreds of thousands of evenly spaced sharp laser lines, extending throughout the visible and near infrared spectrum. The frequency of each line can be determined by radiofrequency methods with extreme precision. Such frequency comb synthesizers are already revolutionizing precision laser spectroscopy, they provide the clockwork for novel ultraprecise atomic clocks, based on optical transitions in atoms, ions or molecules and they open new frontiers for stringent tests of fundamental physics laws.

Organiser(s): Jasper Kirkby / EP Division

Note: Tea & coffee will be served at 16.00 hrs.