Frequency comb ptychoscopy

Abstract

Multiheterodyne techniques using frequency combs—radiation sources whose lines are perfectly evenly-spaced—have revolutionized science. By beating sources with the many lines of a comb, their spectra are recovered. Even so, these approaches are fundamentally limited to probing coherent sources, such as lasers. They are unable to measure most spectra that occur in nature. Here we present frequency comb ptychoscopy, a technique that allows for the spectrum of any complex broadband source to be retrieved using a comb. In this approach, the spectrum is reconstructed by unfolding the simultaneous beating of a source with each comb line. We demonstrate this both theoretically and experimentally, at microwave frequencies. This approach can reconstruct the spectrum of nearly any complex source to high resolution, and the speed, resolution, and generality of this technique will allow chip-scale frequency combs to have an impact in a wide swath of new applications, such as remote sensing and passive spectral imaging.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 09, 2021
Source ID
10.1038/s41467-021-24471-4

Entities

People

  • David Benirschke
  • David Burghoff
  • Ningren Han

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program
  • National Science Foundation

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Space