Patent ID: 8831056

Claim:
A device, comprising: an optical resonator formed of an optical material exhibiting optical nonlinearity and producing an optical frequency comb based on nonlinear wave mixing caused by the optical nonlinearity; a laser that is tunable and produces laser light that interacts with the optical material of the optical resonator based on the nonlinear wave mixing to produce the optical frequency comb; a laser locking mechanism that locks the laser to the optical resonator; an atomic reference device that includes atoms or molecules providing an atomic or molecular transition and is coupled to receive light coupled out of the optical resonator to produce output light carrying information of the atomic or molecular transition; a first optical detector that receives the output light from the atomic reference device to produce a first detector output; a feedback circuit that receives the first detector output and produces a feedback signal, the feedback circuit coupled to at least one of the laser or the optical resonator to apply the feedback signal to stabilize the at least one of the laser or the optical resonator; and a second optical detector that receives light coupled by an optical coupler out of the optical resonator to convert the optical frequency comb into a second detector signal which is stabilized in frequency relative to the atomic or molecular transition of the atomic reference device.