Ultrastable metrology laser at 633 nm using an optical frequency comb

We propose a wavelength standard for highly precise dimensional measurements. An internal-mirror helium-neon laser is offset-locked to a frequency comb line in order to carry out a secondary standard with reduced phase noise and high optical power. Additional lasers can be traced back to this secondary standard, which will enable us to disseminate the accuracy and stability to the metrology lasers of our nanopositioning and -measuring machine, the so-called NPMM-200. First measurements revealed that the stability of the secondary standard is restricted by the time standard of the optical frequency comb to a value of 2.4.10(-12) (tau = 1 s), which is a significant improvement in comparison to the stability of the existing metrology lasers. In further measurements a metrology laser was locked onto the secondary standard with a relative instability of 0.6.10(-15) (tau = 1000 s).