Menlo Systems was founded in 2001 by Professor Hänsch, Dr. Ronald Holzwarth, Dr. Michael Mei, and Alex Cable as a spin-off from the renowned Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics around the optical frequency comb technology - a revolutionary and simple technique for measuring the frequency of light. This invention has been called "...the biggest advance in precision electromagnetic measurements since people began to measure laser frequencies in the seventies..."