Frequency combs are the robust and reliable backbone of cutting-edge experiments. This thought is guiding our frequency comb product development. It’s the shared vision with our customers, who want to focus more on the application and spend less time maintaining their system.
TOPTICA's DFC CORE + was designed to combine highest stability with reliability at the push of a button. With our award-winning CERO technology we achieve ultra-low noise performance while reducing complexity: The light waveform itself is fixed from pulse to pulse, by passively setting the carrier-envelope offset frequency fCEO to zero. No control loops, no electronic noise and orders of magnitude faster noise suppression compared to conventional frequency combs.
With our complete frequency comb solutions, including seamless locking of all TOPTICA lasers, we don't deliver separate components but stable optical frequencies from the UV to the mid-IR. By that, even the most demanding applications like optical clock comparison and sub-Hz spectral purity transfer are enabled - reliable and easy to use.
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Your Benefits
Superior noise performance at all wavelengths
The award-winning CERO technology yields record-low carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) noise which is inherited by all comb lines across the spectrum.
Reliable operation with maximum uptime
With less locking electronics and replaceable pump modules TOPTICA's DFC CORE + offers a simple design that allows for robust and reliable operation and short service interruptions for maximum uptime.
No PhD required: automated locking with one click
We offer world-record stability at the push of a button with automated simultaneous locking to optical and RF references, remote control via a single interface, and seamless integration through Python SDK.
Carefree: complete solution from one hand
Get your complete frequency comb solution with seamless integration of all TOPTICA lasers: one source, one interface, one call for support - ready to perform from day one.
Save space and stay mobile: smart rack integration
Our modular rack-integrated frequency comb systems combine advanced thermal design and robust mechanics while saving space and ensuring mobility.
Applications
Frequency distribution and infrastructural systems
Deliver metrology-network frequency stability to your application. Remote control, auto-locking, and proven reliability: ideal for big infrastructures.
Optical quantum clocks
Welcome to the next generation of time and frequency metrology. Harnessing the full power of quantum physics and ultra-stable lasers, optical quantum clocks are redefining how we measure time...
Atom laser cooling & trapping
Over the last century, many experiments and theoretical studies on matter waves and the interaction between light and atoms have paved the way to modern atom optics and its application in research & industry.
Quantum computing & simulation
Lasers are used to realize most of the quantum systems used for quantum computing and simulation. Lasers are utilized to prepare quantum states, to realize quantum gates, and to read out qubits. In addition, lasers are used to link different quantum systems (e.g. to connect quantum computers or quantum computing subunits), a major task of quantum communication. Tunable diode lasers, fiber amplifiers, optical frequency combs, and wavelength meters, ideally combined in laser rack systems as complete solutions, are the most important products.
Precision spectroscopy
Get SI-linked accuracy and narrow lines for precision spectroscopy and fundamental constant tests. Expandable to highest scan speed and broad coverage.
Photonic microwave generation
Access the highest-purity microwaves with extra smooth phase-noise spectrum and minimum spurs. Enabled by our low-noise architecture frequency combs.
6G & communication research
As data demands grow toward transfer rates of several hundred gigabits per second, wireless communication research is moving towards higher carrier frequencies - reaching into the terahertz range to achieve higher bandwidths. TOPTICA’s TeraScan systems provide an ideal testbed for this research, offering tunable continuous-wave THz emission from 50 GHz to 1.2 THz. This enables the precise characterization of communication components and transmittance channels.
Length metrology
Calibrate or reference your stabilized HeNe lasers with ultimate precision: traceable to the SI second for ultimate accuracy in length metrology.
Quantum dots & microcavities
Highest stability and absolute frequency accuracy for inspecting PICs, semicon and RF devices. Expandable to high scan speed and broadest coverage.
Quantum communication
Quantum communication is redefining how information is transmitted, secured, and trusted. At the heart of this technological revolution are high-performance laser systems that generate, control, and stabilize light at the quantum level.
Rydberg RF and electric field sensing
Atomic quantum systems can be used to improve measurements of electric fields from DC to THz using the effect that the energy of highly excited electronic states in atoms, so-called Rydberg states, is strongly shifted by electric fields. High resolution laser spectroscopy with typically one to three tunable narrow linewidth lasers allows one to measure these shifts and be used to quantify the applied electric fields. Besides the high resolution, atomic Rydberg sensing offers additional advantages such as compact measuring devices, low distortion of the electric field by the sensor, and very large tuning range of the rf frequency band that shall be measured.
Photonic integrated circuit characterization
Increasingly, photonic technologies that are typically performed on a lab bench are transitioning to photonic chips. This is true for applications in the mid-infrared, as photonic integrated circuits are used as lab-on-a-chip gas sensors or even to generate chip-based mid-infrared lasers. As a laser with wide, high resolution tuning in the mid-infrared, the TOPO is an ideal laboratory tool for characterizing mid-infrared photonic integrated circuits.
Attosecond physics
Drive your attosecond application with full control over the carrier envelope phase (CEP) of your laser pulses.
Options
DFC CORE +
The basic unit DFC CORE + is a fully self-referenced zero-offset frequency comb and includes electronics and 4 optical outputs at 1560 nm. It can be equipped with wavelength extensions to cover a spectrum from 420 to 2200 nm.
8 outputs
The DFC CORE + comes with 4 offset-free optical outputs at 1560 nm as a standard and can be upgraded to 8 outputs.
Wavelength extensions
Extension of the comb spectrum to 420 - 2200 nm.
Beat detection
Beam combination and beat note detection.
Locking electronics
High-end phase frequency locking.
19" rack integration
Modular integration into 19" industry rack to save space and ensure mobility.
DFC PURACY
Upgrade to the DFC CORE + to get all in one with just one click: low phase noise, narrow linewidth and long-term stability.
Reference
Comb references from long-term stable (DFC RF + DFC GPS) to tunable (DFC RF TUNE) to ultra-low phase noise (CLS).
DFC RF TUNE
Stable RF reference for DFC CORE + with tunable reference frequency.
Accessories
Complete your comb solution with frequency counter, wavelength meter and digital oscilloscope.
Customization
Get the highest-purity microwaves (e.g. 9.6 GHz with -165 dBc/Hz), ultra-low noise RF outputs or highest scan speed (> 100 GHz/s) with broad coverage (80 nm). Define your customized solution with us.
Specifications
Our DFC system has been running reliably for more than 8 years now and only needed two minor realignments. After our lab's relocation TOPTICA supported us with offering a maintenance service.
Dr. Caroline Champenois, Research director and group leader
CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, France
The zero offset technology is an advantage for our application that involves three lasers referenced to the comb. It enables simple and reliable use.
Prof. Dr. Laurent Hilico, Group leader Trapped Ions
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Our TOPTICA Hz laser system with DFC can be put into operation quickly and reliably. It runs stably throughout the entire workday and requires hardly any user interaction. This allows us to efficiently excite Hz-level atomic transitions - and focus completely on our research.
Dr. Martin Fischer
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany
S. Mueller et al. in IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 728-733, (2025)
