Comparison of length measurements provided by a femtosecond optical frequency comb.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a comparison of length measurements between the wavelength and the adjacent pulse repetition interval length (APRIL) provided by a femtosecond optical frequency comb. A theoretical estimation of the frequency stability for stabilizing the wavelength and APRIL, the frequency parameters that affect the stability of the APRIL in air, and the ambiguity in the length measurement by the APRIL are investigated. We find that the APRIL can be used as a low-cost measurement for the absolute length over a range of hundreds of meters in laboratory conditions.