Frequency stabilisation of a fibre-laser comb using a novel microstructured fibre

There is great interest in developing high performance optical frequency metrology based around mode-locked fibre lasers because of their low cost, small size and long-term turnkey operation when compared to the solid-state alternative. We present a method for stabilising the offset frequency of a fibre-based laser comb using a 2f - 3f technique based around a unique fibre that exhibits strong resonant dispersive wave emission. This fibre requires lower power than conventional highly non-linear fibre to generate a suitable signal for offset frequency stabilisation and this in turn avoids the complexity of additional nonlinear steps. We generate an offset frequency signal from the mixing of a wavelength-shifted second harmonic comb with a third harmonic of the comb. Additionally, we have stabilised the repetition rate of the laser to a level better than 10(-14)/root tau, limited by the measurement system noise floor. We present the means for complete and precise measurement of the transfer function of the laser frequency controls. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America