About This Webinar
Optical frequency combs have gained a lot of attention recently due to their unique ability to act as a ruler in both time and frequency space, connecting the radio frequency (RF) spectrum to the visible and beyond. Evolving from their early days as key components in optical clocks, frequency combs have now been applied to dozens of applications, including microscopy and spectroscopy, where they can be used as high-end light sources with excellent time and frequency resolution. Matthew Cich presents the ways in which these properties are applied to spectroscopy and microscopy applications, and discusses the benefits and challenges of integrating comb sources into instruments.
Cich also examines the near future of frequency combs, as ongoing research continues to bolster the utility of combs as instrument light sources. Microcomb development — in which the useful properties of a comb are achieved in miniature devices, for example — aims to provide the same performance as standard frequency combs at dramatically reduced size and cost. Progress toward accessible mid-infrared frequency coverage targets the molecule-stretching fingerprint region and positions combs to become preferred light sources for instruments such as those used for Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Improved mid-infrared frequency coverage also allows dual-comb spectrometers (instruments with two frequency combs) to reach critical spectral regions.
***This presentation premiered during the 2022
Photonics Spectra Spectroscopy Conference. For more information on Photonics Media conferences, visit
events.photonics.com.
About the presenter:
Matthew Cich, Ph.D., is a frequency comb applications scientist at TOPTICA Photonics Inc. He received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Carleton College in 2008 and a doctorate in chemistry from Stony Brook University in 2014. Cich was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where his research focused on high-resolution molecular spectroscopy. He joined TOPTICA Photonics in 2018. He has over a decade of experience in applied optical frequency combs, and he focuses on utilizing frequency combs’ unique and powerful capabilities in a variety of established and novel applications.