FIBER LINKS AND FREQUENCY COMBS

INTERNATIONAL THEMATIC SCHOOL

High Precision Physics using an Optical Fibre Link and Optical Frequency Combs

Peignes de Fréquences et Liens Fibrés Optiques pour les Mesures de Précision

Ecole de Physique des Houches, 22-26 april 2019

The French Optical Society (Société Francaise d’Optique) is happy to announce a new series of annual international thematic schools devoted to hot topics in optics and photonics, held every year at Les Houches School of Physics.

After more than 15 years of development, optical fiber links and optical frequency combs are now sufficiently mature to be spread and shared outside the time/frequency metrological institutes. The school follows on from the international development of optical fiber links and its objective is thus to broadcast among a wide community of physicist the possibilities of high precision measurement thanks to the optical fiber transfer of an optical frequency reference, coupled to a frequency comb. These setup enable any laboratory to access an ultrastable and accurate reference frequency which opens the way to high-precision experiments in a wide range of physical domain. In order to benefit from its metrological performance, the optical reference frequency disseminated by optical fiber links can then be transferred to a wide spectral range from RF to UV frequencies thanks to optical frequency combs. In addition, these combs are ideal tools for high-resolution atomic and molecular spectroscopy.

The attendants will learn both the basics, performance and limitations of these two tools and how to take advantage of them for high-precision measurements. The applications in sight concern for instance tests of fundamental physics, atomic and molecular high-resolution spectroscopy using either stabilized lasers or new spectroscopic methods, frequency transfer for radio astronomy and geodesy and novel applications concerning Earth observation.

Intended Audience

We intend to make this school a good opportunity for end-users and physicists interested in high-precision measurements to meet specialists in the field of frequency measurements and transfer. To that purpose, the school aims at meeting two goals :

covering the basic mandatory subjects that need to be mastered before launching a high-precision measurement experiment based on frequency measurements.
introducing and analysing chosen practical realisations (done or forecast) which exhibit the possibilities offered by a OFC and (or without) an optical link.

Physicists who are or will be connected with an optical fiber link to a metrological institute will find in this school many useful and dedicated informations to help them be prepared to the reference signal arrival. They can be members of the partner labs of the French network Refimeve+, which aims to disseminate an ultrastable and accurate optical frequency reference. They can also be concerned by a broader project through the European project CLONETS (CLOck NETwork Services: Strategy and innovation for clock services over optical-fibre networks), which aims at contributing to a stable and productive European network of time and frequency fibre links.
More generally, this school will talk to the growing community involved in high-precision measurements all around the world, and to any physicists who would like to take a better advantage of optical frequency combs, relying or not, on an optical link.

To foster exchange between the audience, two dedicated poster sessions are organized during the duration of the school and posters will remain on display, in order to encourage spontaneous discussions between participants.
The school is opened to participants from all countries.

application form HERE - within the limit of available places !

commercial sponsorship on line HERE