Over the last few years, there has been a remarkable convergence among the fields of ultrafast optics, optical frequency metrology, and precision laser spectroscopy. This convergence has enabled unprecedented advances in control of the electric field of the pulses produced by femtosecond mode-locked lasers. The resulting spectrum consists of a comb of sharp spectral lines with well-defined frequencies. These new techniques and capabilities are generally known as "femtosecond comb technology." They have had dramatic impact on the diverse fields of precision measurement and extreme nonlinear optical physics.

"This book provides an introductory description of mode-locked lasers, the connection between time and frequency descriptions of their output and the physical origins of the electric field dynamics, together with an overview of applications of femtosecond comb technology. Individual chapters go into more detail on mode-locked laser development, spectral broadening in microstructure fiber, optical parametric amplification, optical frequency metrology, optical atomic clocks, ultrasensitive sensors, carrier-envelope phase dynamics, high field ionization of atoms and generation of attosecond high-harmonic radiation. TOC:Foreword.- Introduction to Optical Frequency Comb and its Applications.- Femtosecond Laser Development.- High Repetition Rate Ring Oscillator.- Microstructure Fiber and White Light Generation.- Optical Comb Dynamics and Stabilization.- Femtosecond Nonlinear Parametric Generators.- Optical Frequency Measurement.- Optical Frequency Measurement: From Harmonic Chain to Comb.- Optical Atomic Clock.- Attosecond Metrology.- Extreme Nonlinear Optics.- Application of Rotation Sensing."

Femtosecond Laser Development.- Gigahertz Femtosecond Lasers.- Microstructure Fiber and White-light Generation.- Optical Comb Dynamics and Stabilization.- Femtosecond Noncollinear Parametric Amplification and Carrier-Envelope Phase Control.- Optical Frequency Measurement.- Optical Frequency Measurement Using Frequency Multiplication and Frequency Combs.- Femtosecond Lasers for Optical Clocks and Low Noise Frequency Synthesis.- Generation and Measurement of Intense Phase-Controlled Few-Cycle Laser Pulses.- Quantum Control of High-Order Harmonic Generation.- Applications of Ultrafast Lasers.