Measurement of the absolute energy level and hyperfine structure of the 87Rb 4D5/2 state: erratum.

In our previous Letter [Opt. Lett.32, 2810 (2007)] an error was made regarding the polarization configuration for the L1 and L2 lasers. That error is corrected here.

Quadrature laser interferometer for in-line thickness measurement of glass panels using a current modulation technique.

A thickness measurement system is proposed for in-line inspection of thickness variation of flat glass panels. Multi-reflection on the surfaces of glass panel generates an interference signal whose phase is proportional to the thickness of the glass panel. For accurate and stable calculation of the phase value, we obtain quadrature interference signals using a current modulation technique. The proposed system can measure a thickness profile with high speed and nanometric resolution, and obtain higher accuracy through real-time nonlinear error compensation. The thickness profile, measured by a transmissive-type experimental setup, coincided with a comparative result obtained using a contact-type thickness measurement system within the range of ±40 nm. The standard deviations of the measured thickness profiles and their waviness components were less than 3 nm with a scanning speed of 300 mm/s.

Precision spectroscopy of Rb atoms using single comb-line selected from fiber optical frequency comb.

We demonstrated the selection of a single comb-line from an optical frequency comb (OFC) of a mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser with a 250 MHz pulse repetition rate, and applied for precision spectroscopy of Rb atoms at 1529 nm. The single comb-line was selected from the fiber-OFC with a 1.5 GHz mode-spacing using spectral-mode-filtering and femtosecond laser injection-locking. When the repetition rate of the mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser was scanned over the range of 382.6 Hz at 250 MHz, we observed the double-resonance optical pumping spectra of the 5S(1/2)-5P(3/2)-4D(3/2) transition of Rb atoms using the selected comb-line of an OFC scanned over the range of 300 MHz at 196,037,213.8 MHz.

Absolute frequency measurement of an acetylene stabilized laser using a selected single mode from a femtosecond fiber laser comb.

We performed an absolute frequency measurement of an acetylene stabilized laser utilizing a femtosecond injection locking technique that can select one component among the fiber laser comb modes. The injection locking scheme has all the fiber configurations. Femtosecond comb lines of 250 MHz spacing based on the fiber femtosecond laser were used for injection locking of a distributed feedback (DFB) laser operating at 1542 nm as a frequency reference. The comb injected DFB laser serves as a selection filter of optical comb modes and an amplifier for amplification of the selected mode. The DFB laser injection locked to the desired comb mode was used to evaluate the frequency stability and absolute frequency measurement of an acetylene stabilized laser. The frequency stability of the acetylene stabilized laser was measured to be 1.1 x 10(-12) for a 1 s averaging time, improving to 6.9 x 10(-14) after 512 s. The absolute frequency of the laser stabilized on the P(16) transition of (13)C(2)H(2) was measured to be 194 369 569 385.7 kHz.

Direct frequency counting with enhanced beat signal-to-noise ratio for absolute frequency measurement of a He-Ne/I2 laser at 633 nm.

We obtain a heterodyne beat signal between an iodine-stabilized He-Ne laser at 633 nm and a low power comb mode of an optical frequency synthesizer with an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) up to approximately 35 dB. This is accomplished by the adoption of a fiber coupler and the reduction of the shot noise induced by adjacent comb modes. SNR is improved more than 15 dB compared with that of conventional methods. We measure the absolute frequency of the He-Ne laser mentioned above directly utilizing the enhanced SNR. A quantitative analysis of SNR and some information on experimental criteria for the correct frequency counting are given.

Optical frequency comb generator based on actively mode-locked fiber ring laser using an acousto-optic modulator with injection-seeding.

We present an optical frequency comb generator (OFCG) based on a fiber ring laser that provides a bandwidth of over 1.8 THz with mode-locked pulse operation by external injection seeding. The OFCG was developed via a configuration with actively mode-locked fiber ring laser utilizing an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) with a carrier frequency of 150 MHz when an external seeding laser was injected into the fiber ring cavity. To our knowledge, our experimental device has the widest comb bandwidth ever reported for an OFCG based on a fiber ring loop adopting an AOM device, and ours is the first device that can operate with an actively mode-locked scheme.

Threshold features of a Brillouin Stokes comb generated in a distributed fiber Raman amplifier.

We study threshold features of a Brillouin-shifted Stokes comb generated in a distributed fiber Raman amplifier. When the input power of Brillouin pump is linearly increased in high Raman gain, the first Stokes wave grows exponentially at much lower threshold power and then experiences an appreciable power decrease in the vicinity of the Brillouin comb's threshold. This power reduction of the first Brillouin Stokes, which we did not see mentioned in previous reports, was caused by a power transfer to higher-order lines and initiated Brillouin comb generation. Moreover, the effects of Raman pump power and pumping direction on the threshold of a Brillouin comb are investigated.