Frequency Comb' Technique Reveals Colors And Intensity Of All Lightwaves Simultaneously

From Science Daily:

Physicists at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have taken the first ever two-dimensional pictures of a "frequency comb," providing extra information that enhances the comb's usefulness in optical atomic clocks, secure high-bandwidth communications, real-time chemical analysis, remote sensing, and the ultimate in precision control of atoms and molecules.
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The new technique will enable scientists to measure and manipulate optical frequencies in a massively parallel manner, Diddams says. The frequency brush could enable more precise control of individual frequencies than is currently possible in high-bandwidth communications, making it possible to reliably pack more channels with greater security into the same spectrum. The technique also may be useful in optical signal processing--synthesis and control of light as easily as electronic signals are currently manipulated--that could boost the power of surveillance, remote sensing, trace gas detection and high-speed computing systems. And it could enable the "ultimate" in precision control of atoms and molecules, a valuable tool in many areas of science, Diddams says.

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