High-accuracy self-correction of refractive index of air using two-color interferometry of optical frequency combs

Long-path pulse-to-pulse interferometers of two-color frequency combs are developed using fundamental and second harmonics of a mode-locked fiber laser. Interferometric phase difference between two-color frequency combs was precisely measured by stabilizing the fundamental fringe phase by controlling the repetition frequency of the comb, and a stability of 10(-10) for 1000 s was achieved in the measurement of an optical path length difference between two wavelengths. In long-term measurements performed for 10 h, results of phase variation of interferometric measurements were highly consistent with the fluctuations in the calculated difference of refractive indices of air at two wavelengths with an accuracy of 10(-10). The difference between the measured optical distances corresponding to two wavelengths and the optical distance corresponding to the fundamental wavelength were used in the two-color method; high-accuracy self-correction of the fluctuation of refractive index of air was performed with an uncertainty of 5 x 10(-8) for 10-h measurements when the maximum refractive index change was on the order of 10(-6). (C)2010 Optical Society of America