Absolute length calibration of gauge blocks using optical comb of a femtosecond pulse laser

Abstract

We report an exploitation of the optical comb of a femtosecond pulse laser as the wavelength ruler for the task of absolute length calibration of gauge blocks. To that end, the optical comb was stabilized to the Rb clock of frequency standard and an optical frequency synthesizer was constructed by tuning an external single-frequency laser to the optical comb. The absolute height of gauge blocks was measured by means of multiwavelength interferometry using multiple beams of different wavelengths consecutively provided by the optical frequency synthesizer. The wavelength uncertainty was measured 1.9 x 10(-10) that leads to an overall calibration uncertainty of 15 nm (k=1) in determining the absolute length of gauge blocks. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.