Experimental demonstration of distance measurement with a femtosecond frequency comb laser

NMi Van Swinden Laboratory, Thijsseweg 11, 2629 JA Delft, The Netherlands We experimentally demonstrate that a stabilized femtosecond frequency comb can be applied as a tool for distance measurement in an interferometric scheme. A proof of principle of this method, as proposed by Ye [5], is provided by measuring a displacement of about 15 cm in air and comparing it to a reference value from a calibrated laser interferometer. The experiment shows that the new scheme easily achieves an accuracy better than one optical fringe.