Ultrafast electro-optic light with subcycle control

Abstract

Making ultrafast cycles of light The ability to generate coherent optical frequency combs has had a huge impact on precision metrology, imaging, and sensing applications. On closer inspection, the broadband “white light” generated through the interaction of femtosecond mode-locked laser pulses is composed of billions or trillions of precisely spaced wavelengths of light. Carlson et al. demonstrate an alternative to the mode-locked laser approach—the electro-optic modulation of a continuous-wave laser light source can also generate optical frequency combs (see the Perspective by Torres-Company). The electro-optic modulation techniques can operate at much higher repetition rates than mode-locked lasers, which means they could potentially yield even more precise measurements. Science , this issue p. 1358 ; see also p. 1316