Laser based frequency standards and their applications

A frequency comb source, comprising:

• a passively modelocked oscillator;
• at least one highly nonlinear waveguide connected to said oscillator, characterized in that a coherent supercontinuum is generated by said highly nonlinear waveguide,
• said highly nonlinear waveguide further containing at least one segment where frequency converted light is generated,
• said frequency converted light generating a beat signal in a spectral range within said coherent supercontinuum,
• said beat signal being applied to stabilize a carrier envelope phase of said oscillator.

A low timing jitter source of equidistant optical pulses, comprising:

• a passively modelocked waveguide oscillator,
• said waveguide oscillator further containing a saturable absorber element;
• said saturable absorber comprising a means for inducing modelocking in said oscillator,
• said waveguide oscillator being constructed from an optical cavity with a certain dispersion;
• said optical cavity containing a number of cavity components;
• said dispersion of said optical cavity being substantially lower than the dispersion of each of the cavity components,
• said oscillator further configured to operate at a repetition rate >110 MHz.

A frequency comb source, comprising:

• a passively modelocked waveguide oscillator;
• at least one highly nonlinear waveguide connected to said oscillator, characterized in that a coherent supercontinuum is generated by said highly nonlinear waveguide, and said waveguide oscillator operates at a repetition rate >250 MHz;
• wherein
• said frequency comb source comprises a part of an optical analogue to digital converter.