Detection of vacuum birefringence using intense laser pulses

We propose a novel technique that promises hope of being the first to directly detect a polarization of the quantum electrodynamic (QED) vacuum. The technique exploits the high fields associated with ultra-short pulses of light stored in low dispersion optical resonators. We show that the technique circumvents the need for large-scale liquid helium cooled magnets, and more importantly avoids the experimental pitfalls that plague existing experimental approaches that use these magnets. The new technique has a predicted birefringence measurement sensitivity of Δn10⁻²⁰ in a 1 s measurement. Currently available optics and lasers will enable observation of vacuum polarization in an experiment of only a few days in duration.     

Coherent bisection of 141 THz using sum frequency generation of 1064 and 709 nm radiation

The frequency interval (141 THz) that exists between 1064 nm radiation and the unusual semiconductor wavelength of 709 nm has been coherently divided by using an optical phase-locked loop to control a slave laser lying at the mean frequency of these two wavelengths. The 709 nm radiation has been generated by a combination of wavelength tuning in an extended cavity and temperature tuning of a ridge-waveguide semiconductor laser with a nominal wavelength of 728 nm. Two nonlinear processes have been used to produce the coherent division: the sum frequency mixing of 1064 and 709 nm radiation to produce 425 nm radiation and the second harmonic generation of 851 nm light to produce the same wavelength radiation.     

Long-distance frequency dissemination with a resolution of 10(-17)

We use a new technique to disseminate microwave reference signals along ordinary optical fiber. The fractional frequency resolution of a link of 86 km in length is 10(-17) for a one day integration time, a resolution higher than the stability of the best microwave or optical clocks. We use the link to compare the microwave reference and a CO2/OsO4 frequency standard that stabilizes a femtosecond laser frequency comb. This demonstrates a resolution of 3 x 10(-14) at 1 s. An upper value of the instability introduced by the femtosecond laser-based synthesizer is estimated as 1 x 10(-14) at 1 s.