Atmospheric Chemistry Program Seminar: Prof. Greg Rieker & Prof. Scott Diddams

Frequency comb spectroscopy: from Nobel prize to practical application

Prof. Greg Rieker & Prof. Scott Diddams,
CU Engineering

"The first frequency comb laser was demonstrated on the CU Boulder campus in 1999 in Jan Hall’s lab at JILA.  In the two decades since, the technology has proliferated across a vast array of scientific fields from timekeeping and astronomy, to low-noise frequency synthesis and precision spectroscopy for fundamental physics.  In recent years, it made the jump to practical applications at the forefront of climate and energy, for example as the foundation of a sensor network detecting methane leaks across 750 sq. miles of oil and gas infrastructure. Prof Diddams will discuss the evolution of frequency comb lasers, metrology and sensing techniques developed in his laboratory at NIST and now CU, which are pushing the boundaries of sensing from the UV to the THz, and from macro to micro-scale comb systems.  Prof. Rieker will discuss the push toward robust, fieldable frequency comb systems and practical applications, ending with recent collaborative work between the laboratories on sensing in high-speed chemically reacting systems."