Ultrafast electro-optic light with subcycle control

Making ultrafast cycles of light The ability to generate coherent optical frequency combs has had a huge impact on precision metrology, imaging, and sensing applications. On closer inspection, the broadband “white light” generated through the interaction of femtosecond mode-locked laser pulses is composed of billions or trillions of precisely spaced wavelengths of light. Carlson et al. demonstrate an alternative to the mode-locked laser approach—the electro-optic modulation of a continuous-wave laser light source can also generate optical frequency combs (see the Perspective by Torres-Company). The electro-optic modulation techniques can operate at much higher repetition rates than mode-locked lasers, which means they could potentially yield even more precise measurements. Science, this issue p. 1358; see also p. 1316 Electro-optic modulation of a continuous-wave laser is used to produce ultrafast and ultrastable optical frequency combs. Light sources that are ultrafast and ultrastable enable applications like timing with subfemtosecond precision and control of quantum and classical systems. Mode-locked lasers have often given access to this regime, by using their high pulse energies. We demonstrate an adaptable method for ultrastable control of low-energy femtosecond pulses based on common electro-optic modulation of a continuous-wave laser light source. We show that we can obtain 100-picojoule pulse trains at rates up to 30 gigahertz and demonstrate sub–optical cycle timing precision and useful output spectra spanning the near infrared. Our source enters the few-cycle ultrafast regime without mode locking, and its high speed provides access to nonlinear measurements and rapid transients.