ANR/ Custom laser pulse-trains and FRequency cOmbs using Space-Time duality (FROST)

超短脉冲激光源在众多基础和应用学科中产生了革命性的影响。锁模光纤激光器由于其紧凑且重量轻的格式、低成本、与光纤技术和系统的完全兼容性等而特别令人感兴趣。尽管如此，光纤激光器技术在控制关键激光器规格、其重复率、或相关周期性频谱梳的频率间隔。基本模式中的重复率/频率间隔-锁定光纤激光器通常限于几十MHz，远低于在高速通信、光学采样、毫米波和太赫兹（THz）波形合成、天文光谱仪校准（“astrocombs”）等中的应用的需要。已经提出了用于倍增激光器标称重复率的技术，例如，谐波锁模，但负面影响关键的激光噪声特征。 拟议的FROST项目涉及INRS，拉瓦尔大学，Genia Photonics（加拿大方面）以及两个不同的团体OPTIMA和LAME在LIPhy（Materialoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique），目的是创建一类新的实用低噪声超短脉冲光纤激光系统，能够提供可调谐，按需重复率和光频梳（OFC），满足通信、数据处理和频率计量应用的严格要求。FROST将开发的用于脉冲序列和OFC生成的新型光纤系统将提供独特的性能，特别是关于（i）它们将重复率或频率间隔从几十MHz编程到THz范围的能力，（ii）它们的低噪声特性，对于GHz速率脉冲序列，定时抖动<20 fs，以及（iii）它们极高的频率稳定性和精度，目标值低于Hz范围。FROST产生的新知识和高素质人才的培训将有助于提高加拿大的全球竞争力，特别是在信息和通信技术部门。

Ultrashort-pulse laser sources have had a revolutionary impact across multitude of fundamental and applied disciplines. Mode-locked fiber lasers are particularly interesting due to their compact and lightweight format, low cost, full compatibility with fiber-optics technologies and systems, etc. Still, fiber laser technologies exhibit an extremely constrained capability for controlling a key laser specification, its repetition rate, or the frequency spacing of the related periodic spectral comb. The repetition rate/frequency spacing in a basic mode-locked fiber laser is typically limited to tens of MHz, well below the needs for applications in high-speed communications, optical sampling, mm-wave and terahertz (THz) waveform synthesis, astronomical spectrometer calibration ("astrocombs") etc. Techniques for multiplying the laser nominal repetition rate have been proposed, e.g., harmonic mode-locking, but negatively affecting critical laser noise features. The proposed FROST project involves a collaborative effort between INRS, Univ. Laval, Genia Photonics (Canadian side), and two different groups, OPTIMA and LAME, at the LIPhy (Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique) in CNRS - Univ. Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France, with the aim of creating a new class of practical low-noise ultrashort-pulse fiber laser systems, capable of providing tunable, on-demand repetition rates and optical frequency combs (OFCs), fulfilling the stringent requirements in communication, data processing, and frequency metrology applications. The novel fiber systems to be developed in FROST for pulse train and OFC generation will offer a unique performance, particularly concerning (i) their capability to program the repetition rate or frequency spacing from a few tens of MHz to the THz range, (ii) their low-noise features, with timing jitters < 20fs for GHz-rate pulse trains, and (iii) their extremely high frequency stability and precision, with target values below the Hz range. The new knowledge generated from FROST and the training of highly qualified personnel will contribute to enhance Canada's global competitiveness, especially in information and communication technology sectors.