Optical frequency combs are laser light sources whose spectrum is composed of thousands of equally spaced narrow lines -- each an ultrastable laser in its own right. Ever since their inception in early 2000, frequency combs have enabled ground breaking advances across the natural sciences, revolutionising the field of precision frequency metrology.

The first generation of fully-autonomous frequency combs relied on bulky and expensive ultrashort pulsed laser and fibre supercontinuum technologies. However, the past decade has witnessed the emergence of a remarkable new photonic technology that allows frequency comb generation to be achieved in a miniaturised, chip-integrated platform, thus paving the way for a host of new applications from high-speed telecommunications to ultrafast optical distance measurements. This presentation will discuss the basic operating principles and applications of this new emerging technology -- known as the microresonator optical frequency comb -- and describe research pursued at the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland that contributes to the development of the technology.

Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Auckland and The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies.

Miro is originally from Finland but has lived in New Zealand for almost ten years. He is currently an associate professor and deputy head of department (research and equity) at the Department of Physics, where he conducts research in laser physics and nonlinear optics. Miro is the recipient of several awards, including the 2019 Prime Minister's MacDiarmid emerging scientist prize.

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