Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) sent this bulletin at 09/22/2021 10:24 AM EDT
n i s t

View as a Web Page

Taking Measure Blog

Making Measurements With a Fine-Toothed Comb

Line drawing shows waves entering a frequency comb with colorful peaks.

By Rebecca Jacobson, the public outreach coordinator for NIST Boulder

To many people, a measurement sounds mundane, like marking ticks on a ruler or reading the line on a thermometer. It’s a piece of data. And they tend to think that improved measurements look like finer and finer ticks on a ruler — which doesn’t seem very exciting.

But making new measurements is more than just making finer marks on a ruler. To measure something is to understand it, pull it apart and see how it works. New measurements can unlock possibilities that even scientists never thought of when they started out.

Perhaps there is no better example than the optical frequency comb. Very simply, this device is a ruler for light. Yet it’s so much more than a ruler.

Read More

LEARN MORE
A metal ring with large bolts frames a glass compartment, parts of the atomic clock

What Do Optical Frequency Combs Do?

Optical frequency combs began as part of NIST scientists’ vision for better optical atomic clocks in the late 1990s. Today, NIST scientists are at the forefront of advancing these tools, and they have found uses beyond just timekeeping. 
Read More