A method of characterizing a
resonator element (102) is provided herein. The method includes providing a
laser light having a tunable carrier frequency, and
coupling at least a first portion of the
laser light into a
resonator element (102) having a plurality of carrier resonances (3000) for the carrier frequency of the
laser light, where adjacent carrier resonances (3000) are spaced from each other in the
spectral domain at a free spectral region (FSR). The method further comprises modulating the intensity and / or phase of the portion of the
laser light coupled into the
resonator element (102) with a first modulation frequency (1001) and a second modulation frequency (1002), thereby producing, for each carrier
resonance (3000), at least two
sideband resonances (3001) separated by the first modulation frequency (1001) from the corresponding carrier
resonance (3000), and generating at least two
sideband resonances (3002) separated from the corresponding carrier resonances (3000) by a second modulation frequency (1002), where the first modulation frequency (1001) and the second modulation frequency (1002) are different from an integer multiple of the free spectral region and are different from each other. Furthermore, the method comprises tuning the carrier frequency of the
laser light at a predetermined tuning rate, and measuring the intensity of the
laser light transmitted and / or reflected by the resonator element (102) while tuning the carrier frequency. Further, the method includes measuring a tuning time to tune the carrier frequency through the four adjacent
sideband resonances, the tuning time corresponding to a tuning time required to change the tunable carrier frequency from a value corresponding to a first one of the four sideband resonances (3001, 3002) to a value corresponding to a last one of the four sideband resonances. Furthermore, the method comprises determining an interval between a plurality of carrier resonances (3000) in the
spectral domain from a measured intensity of the laser light transmitted and / or reflected by the resonator element (102) and using the first modulation frequency (1001), the second modulation frequency (1002) and a measured tuning time to tune the carrier frequency through four adjacent sideband resonances (3001, 3002).