Optical Frequency Combs for Space Applications
November 2 - 5, 2015
California Institute of Technology -
Pasadena, CA 91125
Final Report
Workshop Overview:
The goal of this workshop is to formulate space applications and mission concepts enabled by optical frequency comb technology and to identify high priority technology challenges and gaps that need to be addressed to implement these missions. Through the study program, we will develop a critical path forward for developing space qualified optical frequency comb systems.
This program would bring together a diverse group of technical experts in optical frequency comb technology, space application specialists, and potential customers in the areas of astronomy and astrophysics, navigation, laser interferometry, earth and planetary science, and instrumentation development. In doing so, it will help to foster new collaborations that will lead to extraordinary new capabilities and previously unachievable missions for NASA enabled by space-based optical frequency combs.
Specific deliverable goals for the program are to:
- Clearly identify 2-3 high-payoff mission concepts with enough fidelity to allow for Team X or Team I to conduct a follow-on study where a mission pointdesign could be detailed.
- Prioritize critical areas for frequency comb subsystem technology development needed for space applications and not currently being addressed by other agencies; make recommendations for follow-on studies.
- Create lasting, productive collaborations between frequency comb technologists and space science and technology specialists.
Monday, November 2, 2015Beckman Institute Auditorium - Caltech |
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Short Course: Optical Frequency Combs - Principles of Operation and ApplicationsIntroductory Lectures - Open to all interested students, researchers and faculty |
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Time |
Event |
Speaker |
7:30 - 8:00 |
Coffee and Refreshments |
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8:00 - 8:15 |
Logistics / Introduction |
Michele Judd Team Lead |
8:15 - 9:25 |
Optical Frequency Combs Part I - Fundamentals of frequency combs: What they are and how they work |
Scott Diddams |
9:25 - 9:55 |
Break |
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9:55 - 11:05 |
Applications of Frequency Combs |
Nathan Newbury |
11:05 - 11:50 |
Space Flight Considerations for Precision Optical Instrumentation 1 |
Carl Weimer |
11:50 - 12:30 |
Space Flight Considerations for Precision Optical Instrumentation 2 |
Mike Shao |
12:30 - 1:30 |
Short Course Ends: Informal Lunch is provided on the Beckman Institute Patio |
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Invitation - Only Workshop Begins |
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1:30 - 1:45 |
Walk to Keck Center, pick up badge and welcome packet, find seat in the Think Tank |
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1:45 - 2:45 |
Workshop Logistics and Introduction to KISS |
Michele Judd |
2:45 - 3:00 |
Participant Introductions |
Michele Judd |
3:00 - 3:30 |
Break |
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3:30 - 4:30 |
Workshop Objectives and Goals and Lightening Talks, Solicitation of Mission Seed Ideas |
Team Leads |
4:30 - 5:00 |
Frequency Comb Mission Seed Idea 1 - Planet Formation Imager - Mid-IR Frequency Combs for Heterodyne Detection |
Gautam Vasisht |
5:00 - 5:30 |
Frequency Comb Mission Seed Idea 2 - Atmospheric Gas Detection for Climate Change Studies |
Christian Frankenberg |
5:30 - 6:00 |
Frequency Comb Mission Seed Idea 3 |
Open - All |
6:30 |
Dinner at the Athenaeum |
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Tuesday, November 3, 2015Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155 |
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Special Topics in Optical Frequency Combs - Short Talks |
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Time |
Event |
Speaker |
8:00 - 8:30 |
Registration, Coffee and Refreshments at Keck Center |
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8:30 - 8:45 |
Logistics |
Michele Judd |
8:45 - 9:00 |
Workshop Objectives and Goals - Introduction of Special Topics Areas |
Team Leads |
9:00 - 9:25 |
Special Topic Short Talk - 1 |
Tobias Kippenberg |
9:25 - 9:50 |
Special Topic Short Talk - 2 |
Debra Fischer |
9:50 - 10:15 |
Special Topic Short Talk - 3 |
Alex Gaeta |
10:15 - 10:45 |
Break |
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10:45 - 11:10 |
Remote Sensing/In Situ Space Applications of TeraHertz (THz) Frequency Combs |
Geoff Blake |
11:10 - 11:35 |
Self-Referencing Electro-Optic Frequency Combs |
Scott Papp |
11:35 - 12:00 |
Towards Direct Generation of Wide Coherent Microcombs with Photonic Belt Resonators |
Ivan Grudinin |
12:00 - 12:30 |
Group picture, walk to the Athenaeum |
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12:30 - 2:00 |
Lunch at the Athenaeum |
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2:00 - 2:25 |
Kerr Frequency Combs: Pathways from Laboratory to Space Borne Devices |
Lute Maleki |
2:25 - 3:30 |
Selection of Breakout Groups and Topics, Breakout Groups Meet |
Team Leads, All |
3:30 - 4:00 |
Break |
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4:00 - 5:00 |
Breakout Groups Meet |
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5:00 - 5:30 |
Groups reconvene - Open discussion |
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5:30 - 7:30 |
Informal food truck dinner at the Keck Center (dinner starts at 6:30 pm) & Poster Session |
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Wednesday, November 4, 2015Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155 |
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Special Topics in Optical Frequency Combs - Short Talks |
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Time |
Event |
Speaker |
8:00 - 8:30 |
Coffee and Refreshments |
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8:30 - 8:45 |
Logistics |
Michele Judd |
8:45 - 9:00 |
Progress Update: Goals for Day 3 |
Team Leads |
9:00 - 9:25 |
Special Topic Short Talk |
Ronald Holzwarth |
9:25 - 9:50 |
Space-Based Gravitational Wave Interferometry with Optical Frequency Comb |
Massimo Tinto |
9:50 - 10:20 |
Break |
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10:20 - 10:45 |
A Space Based Timing Infrastructure using Frequency Combs |
John Burke |
10:45 - 11:10 |
Clocks and Fundamental Tests in Space |
Nan Yu |
11:10 - 11:30 |
Group discussion |
All |
11:30 - 1:30 |
Lunch on your own |
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1:30 - 4:00 |
Breakout Groups Meet |
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4:00 - 4:30 |
Groups reconvene - Open discussion |
All |
4:30 - 5:00 |
Walk to Lees-Kubota Lecture Hall, Guggenheim Laboratory and break |
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5:00 - 6:00 |
Lecture by John Hall at Lees‐Kubota Lecture Hall, Guggenheim Laboratory, "Light, Atomic Clocks, and Einstein's Relativity" |
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6:15 |
Dinner at the Athenaeum (with spouses and significant others) |
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Thursday, November 5, 2015Keck Center - Think Tank, Room 155 |
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Time |
Event |
Speaker |
8:00 - 8:30 |
Coffee and Refreshments |
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8:30 - 8:45 |
Logistics |
Michele Judd |
8:45 - 9:00 |
Progress Update: Goals for Day 4 (what success looks like at the end of this workshop) |
Team Leads |
9:00 - 10:30 |
Breakout Groups - Final Session |
All |
10:30 - 11:00 |
Break |
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11:00 - 12:00 |
Working Group Writing Session |
All |
12:00 - 1:30 |
Lunch at the Athenaeum |
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1:30 - 3:30 |
Open Discussion of Breakout Group Recommendations and Group Feedback |
All |
3:30 - 4:00 |
Break |
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4:00 - 4:40 |
Interim study activities and assignments - Group Discussion |
All |
4:40 - 5:00 |
Workshop Closeout |
Michael Judd |
5:00 |
Workshop Concludes |
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Workshop Participants:
- Geoffrey Blake - Caltech Campus
- John Burke - Air Force Research Laboratory
- Kerri Cahoy - MIT
- Pin Chen - JPL/Caltech
- Scott Diddams - National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Ethan Elliott - JPL/Caltech
- Debra Fischer - Yale University
- Christian Frankenberg - Caltech Campus
- Alexander Gaeta - Columbia University
- Ivan Grudinin - JPL/Caltech
- John Hall - University of Colorado
- Gregg Hallinan - Caltech Campus
- Ronald Holzwarth - Menlo Systems GmbH
- Tobias Kippenberg - EPFL
- Stephanie Leifer - JPL/Caltech
- Holly Leopardi - NIST, University of Colorado Boulder
- William Loh - NIST
- Lute Maleki - OEwaves, Inc.
- Dimitri Mawet - Caltech Campus
- Tyler McCracken - Yale University
- Nathan Newbury - NIST
- Mitchio Okumura - Caltech Campus
- Scott Papp - NIST
- Michael Shao - JPL/Caltech
- Massimo Tinto - JPL/Caltech
- Slava Turyshev - JPL/Caltech
- Kerry Vahala - Caltech Campus
- Gautam Vasisht - JPL/Caltech
- Carl Weimer - Ball Aerospace & Technologies
- Qifan Yang - Caltech Campus
- Xu Yi - Caltech Campus
- Nan Yu - JPL/Caltech
Short Course Presentations |
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S. Diddams |
Fundamentals of frequency combs: What they are and how they work |
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N. Newbury |
Applications of Frequency Combs |
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M. Shao |
Space Flight Considerations for Precision Optical Instruments |
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C. Weimer |
From the Lab to Space: Comments on Instrument Qualification |
Workshop Presentations |
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| G. Blake Caltech |
Remote Sensing/In Situ Space Applications of TeraHertz (THz )Frequency Combs |
| J. Burke Air Force Research Laboratory |
A Space Based Timing Infrastructure using Frequency Combs (869 KB .pdf) |
K. Cahoy MIT |
Weather Sensing and Laser Communications for Nanosatellites |
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D. Fischer |
Exoplanets |
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A. Gaeta |
Chip-Based Optical Frequency Combs |
I. Grudinin JPL |
Towards direct generation of wide coherent microcombs with photonic belt resonators |
| T. Kippenberg EPFL |
Microresonator based Optical Frequency Combs (5.4 MB .pdf) |
L. Maleki OEwaves, Inc. |
Kerr Frequency Combs: from Laboratory to Space |
S. Papp and S. Diddams NIST |
Self-referencing electro-optic frequency combs (6.9 MB .pdf) |
M. Tinto JPL |
Space-based gravitational wave interferometry with optical frequency comb |
G. Vasisht JPL |
The Planet Formation Imager (PFI) – Mid IR Frequency Combs for Heterodyne (Astronomical) Interferometry |
Poster Session |
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T. McCracken Yale University |
EXPRES - the EXtreme PREcision Spectrograph (13.2 MB .pdf) A tunable Fabry-Perot wavelength calibrator (4.7 MB .pdf) |
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Q. Yang and X. Yi |
Soliton frequency comb at microwave rates in a high-Q silica micro-resonator |
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X. Yi and K. Vahala Caltech |
Demonstration of near-IR line-referenced electro-optical laser comb for precision radial velocity measurement in astronomy |