Spectrum deftly takes visible light’s pulse

Is there really treasure at the end of the rainbow? Yes, say scientists who have fired ultrashort laser pulses into a novel fiber that transforms one color into many. The remarkable spectrum exiting the fiber, when applied as a sort of ruler, takes the ordeal out of measuring visible-light frequencies. Before long, every university and industrial laboratory may routinely use the technique to achieve precision now attained only at national standards laboratories, the inventors predict.