Temporal Characterisation Of Optical Frequency Combs

Joshi, Chaitanya

Temporal Characterisation Of Optical Frequency Combs

Abstract

The emerging field of silicon photonics allows us to develop more efficient networks that go beyond the capabilities and limitations of current electronic networks. Integrated photonic solutions in the present and in the future will allow us to keep pace with Moore's Law. Expertise in Silicon fabrication is at a very advanced level due to its use in semiconductor electronics. This expertise can be applied directly to fabricating optical devices using silicon as a medium of propagation for light. Silicon shows a high non linear optical response with high intensities. The high intensities required to see non linearity can be achieved by using waveguides etched into the silicon which confine light to a small mode area thus increasing intensity. One application for silicon waveguide devices is the development of frequency combs. A frequency comb can act as an accurate frequency standard over a very large bandwidth that can range from the visible all the way through to the Mid IR. Applications for frequency combs can be found in high precision spectroscopy, optical metrology, highly precise optical atomic clocks and so on. By the very nature of its frequency spectrum, we expect to see short pulses in the temporal domain from a frequency comb. This thesis examines the building of an autocorrelation setup that can measure these pulses to high accuracy. We explore the choice of detection scheme, the choice of setup and go on to discuss some results from the setup that was built as part of the work leading up to this date.

Date Issued

2013-05-26

Committee Chair

Gaeta, Alexander L.

Committee Member

Wise, Frank William

Degree Discipline

Applied Physics

Degree Name

M.S., Applied Physics

Degree Level

Master of Science

Types

dissertation or thesis