Measurement of Far-Infrared Laser Frequencies

Presenter Information

Patrick Mehl

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

SURC Room 140

Start Date

15-5-2014

End Date

15-5-2014

Keywords

Frequency, Laser, Beat

Abstract

Optically pumped molecular lasers have been used to generate thousands of laser emissions in the far-infrared region. These laser emissions can be used in a variety of applications, from terahertz imaging to conducting diagnostics on tokamak plasmas. To date, their primary use has been as frequency standards in high-resolution spectroscopic investigations into stable molecules and free radicals. For these laser emissions to be useful as reference standards in the far-infrared region, their wavelengths and frequencies need to be accurately determined. Most measurements of far-infrared wavelengths can be readily conducted to a fractional uncertainty on the order of a few parts in one thousand, about a factor of 1000 less than necessary for high-resolution investigations. The alternative is to measure the frequencies of these laser emissions which can be conducted with a fractional uncertainty on the order of a few parts in ten million. In this presentation, an overview of the three-laser heterodyne frequency measurement system will be presented along with some of the frequencies that have recently been measured with this system.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Jackson, Mike

Additional Mentoring Department

Physics

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
May 15th, 12:40 PM May 15th, 12:59 PM

Measurement of Far-Infrared Laser Frequencies

SURC Room 140

Optically pumped molecular lasers have been used to generate thousands of laser emissions in the far-infrared region. These laser emissions can be used in a variety of applications, from terahertz imaging to conducting diagnostics on tokamak plasmas. To date, their primary use has been as frequency standards in high-resolution spectroscopic investigations into stable molecules and free radicals. For these laser emissions to be useful as reference standards in the far-infrared region, their wavelengths and frequencies need to be accurately determined. Most measurements of far-infrared wavelengths can be readily conducted to a fractional uncertainty on the order of a few parts in one thousand, about a factor of 1000 less than necessary for high-resolution investigations. The alternative is to measure the frequencies of these laser emissions which can be conducted with a fractional uncertainty on the order of a few parts in ten million. In this presentation, an overview of the three-laser heterodyne frequency measurement system will be presented along with some of the frequencies that have recently been measured with this system.