A Compact Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer for the Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard

A compact direct digital frequency synthesizer （DDFS） for system-on-chip implementation of the high precision rubidium atomic frequency standard is developed. For small chip size and low power consumption, the phase to sine mapping data is compressed using sine symmetry technique, sine-phase difference technique, quad line approximation technique,and quantization and error read only memory （QE-ROM） technique. The ROM size is reduced by 98% using these techniques. A compact DDFS chip with 32bit phase storage depth and a 10bit on-chip digital to analog converter has been successfully implemented using a standard 0.35μm CMOS process. The core area of the DDFS is 1.6mm^2. It consumes 167mW at 3.3V,and its spurious free dynamic range is 61dB.

Spectral filtering of dual lasers with a high-finesse length-tunable cavity for rubidium atom Rydberg excitation

We propose and demonstrate an alternative method for spectral filtering and frequency stabilization of both 780-nm and 960-nm lasers using a high-finesse length-tunable cavity(HFLTC).Firstly,the length of HFLTC is stabilized to a commercial frequency reference.Then,the two lasers are locked to this HFLTC using the Pound–Drever–Hall(PDH)method which can narrow the linewidths and stabilize the frequencies of both lasers simultaneously.Finally,the transmitted lasers of HFLTC with each power up to about 100μW,which act as seed lasers,are amplified using the injection locking method for single-atom Rydberg excitation.The linewidths of obtained lasers are narrowed to be less than 1 k Hz,meanwhile the obtained lasers'phase noise around 750 k Hz are suppressed about 30 d B.With the spectrally filtered lasers,we demonstrate a Rabi oscillation between the ground state and Rydberg state of single-atoms in an optical trap tweezer with a decay time of(67±37)μs,which is almost not affected by laser phase noise.We found that the maximum short-term laser frequency fluctuation of a single excitation lasers is at~3.3 k Hz and the maximum long-term laser frequency drift of a single laser is~46 k Hz during one month.Our work develops a stable and repeatable method to provide multiple laser sources of ultra-low phase noise,narrow linewidth,and excellent frequency stability,which is essential for high precision atomic experiments,such as neutral atom quantum computing,quantum simulation,quantum metrology,and so on.

Transient electromagnetically induced transparency spectroscopy of^(87)Rb atoms in buffer gas

We study the transient response dynamics of^(87)Rb atomic vapor buffered in 8 torr Ne gas through an electromagnetically induced transparency configured inΛ-scheme.Experimentally,the temporal transmission spectra versus probe detuning by switching on and off the coupling one show complex structures.The transmitted probe light intensity drops to a minimum value when the coupling light turns off,showing a strong absorption.Even at the moment of turning on the coupling light at a subsequent delayed time,the atomic medium shows a fast transient response.To account for the transient switching feature,in the time-dependent optical Bloch equation,we must take the transverse relaxation dephasing process of atomic vapor into account,as well as the fluorescence relaxation along with the optical absorption.This work supplies a technique to quantify the transverse relaxation time scale and to sensitively monitor its variation along the environment by observing the transient dynamics of coherent medium,which is helpful in characterizing the coherent feature of the atomic medium.

Laser frequency offset-locking using electromagnetically induced transparency spectroscopy of (85)Rb in magnetic field

We have experimentally offset-locked the frequencies of two lasers using electromagnetically induced transparency（EIT） spectroscopy of ^（85）Rb vapor with a buffer gas in a magnetic field at room temperature. The magnetic field is generated by a permanent magnet mounted on a translation stage and its field magnitude can be varied by adjusting the distance between the magnet and Rb cell, which maps the laser locking frequency to the space position of the magnet. This frequency-space mapping technique provides an unambiguous daily laser frequency detuning operation with high accuracy.A repeatability of less than 0.5 MHz is achieved with the locking frequency detuned up to 184 MHz when the magnetic field varies from 0 up to 80 G.

A 795 nm gain coupled distributed feedback semiconductor laser based on tilted waveguides

The 795 nm distributed feedback lasers have great application in pumping the Rb D1 transition.In this paper,in order to realize specific 795 nm lasing,we designed tilted ridge distributed feedback lasers based on purely gain coupled effect induced by periodic current injection windows through changing the angle of the tilted ridge.The fabricated devices were cleaved into 2 mm-cavity-length,including 5 tilted angles.The peak output powers of all devices were above 30 mW.Single longitudinal mode lasing was realized in all tilted Fabry-Perot cavities using periodic current injection windows,with side mode suppression ratio over 30 dB.The total wavelength range covered 8.656 nm at 20℃.It was disclosed theoretically and experimentally that the output powers,threshold currents,and central wavelengths of the tilted ridge purely gain coupled DFB lasers were relevant to the tilted angles.The results will be instructive for future design of DFB laser arrays with different central wavelengths.

A kind of magnetron cavity used in rubidium atomic frequency standards

Research on the magnetron cavity used in the rubidium atomic frequency standards is developed, through which the main characteristic parameters of the magnetron cavity are studied, mainly including the resonant frequency, quality factor and oscillation mode. The resonant frequency and quality factor of the magnetron cavity were calculated, and the test results of the resonant frequency agreed well with the calculation theory. The test results also show that the resonant frequency of the magnetron cavity can be attenuated to 6.835 GHz, which is the resonant frequency of the rubidium atoms, and the Q-factor can be attenuated to 500-1000. The oscillation mode is a typical TEoll mode and is the correct mode needed for the rubidium atomic frequency standard. Therefore these derivative magnetron cavities meet the requirements of the rubidium atomic frequency standards well.

Analysis and Design of an Improved Servo System for Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard

In this paper, we analyze and design a new type of servo system with noninteger voltage controlled crystal oscillator （VCXO） for rubidium atomic frequency standard （RAFS）, which does not require fractional frequency synthesizer. By the estab- lishment of the loop equations with noises and drifts, we prove that all the components of the loop can affect its performance in- dex, and in which, RAFS long-term frequency stability is mainly determined by frequency multiplier, quantum system, and servo amplifier; the short-term one is mostly decided by VCXO. Owing to the elimination of the frequency synthesizer and its additive mixing unit, we can reduce phase noise and stray of the servo sys- tem, and it is favorable for miniaturizing the RAFS system. In addition, we adopt some targeted optimization measures to im- prove the frequency stability index. The good short-term fre- quency stability index is also validated by the test results.

Determination of hyperfine structure constants of 5D_(5/2) and 7S_(1/2) states of rubidium in cascade atomic system

We present a method to precisely determine the hyperfine structure constants of the rubidium 5D（5/2） and 7S（1/2） states in a cascade atomic system. The probe laser is coupled to the 5S（1/2）→ 5P（3/2） hyperfine transition, while the coupling laser is scanned over the 5P（3/2）→ 5D（5/2）（7S（1/2）） transition. The high-resolution double-resonance optical pumping spectra are obtained with two counter-propagating laser beams acting on rubidium vapor. The hyperfine splitting structures are accurately measured by an optical frequency ruler based on the acousto-optic modulator, thus, the magnetic dipole hyperfine coupling constant A and quadrupole coupling constant B are determined. It is of great significance for the atomic hyperfine structure and fundamental physics research.