Two-hertz-linewidth Nd:YAG lasers at 1064 nm stabilized to vertically mounted ultra-stable cavities

Two Nd：YAG lasers operating at 1064 nm are separately servo-locked to two vertically mounted ultra-stable cavities. The optical heterodyne beat between two cavity-stabilized lasers shows that the linewidth of each laser reaches 2 Hz and the average frequency drift reduces to less than 1 Hz/s.

Frequency stabilization of a 399-nm laser by modulation transfer spectroscopy in an ytterbium hollow cathode lamp

The modulation transfer spectroscopy in an ytterbium hollow cathode lamp at 399 nm is measured. The error signal for frequency locking is optimized by measuring the dependences of its slope, linewidth and magnitude on various parameters. Under the optimum condition, the laser frequency at 399 nm can be stabilized. The long-term stability of laser frequency is measured by monitoring the fluorescence signal of the ytterbium atomic beam induced by the locked laser. The laser frequency is shown to be tightly locked, and the stabilized laser is successfully applied to the cooling of ytterbium atoms.

Study of a low power dissipation,miniature laser-pumped rubidium frequency standard

This paper studies a miniature low power consumption laser-pumped atom vapour cell clock scheme. Pumping ^87Rb with a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode pump and locking the laser frequency on a Doppler-broadened spectral line, it records a 5 × 10^-11τ-1/2 （τ〈500 s） frequency stability with a table-top system in a primary experiment. The study reveals that the evaluated scheme is at the level of 2.7 watts power consumption, 90 cm^3 volume and 10^-12τ-1/2 short-term frequency stability.

Improvement of Laser Frequency Stabilization for the Optical Pumping Cesium Beam Standard

A method is presented to improve the laser frequency stabilization for the optical pumping cesium clock. By comparing the laser frequency stabilization of different schemes, we verify that the light angle is an important factor that limits the long-term frequency stability. We minimize the drift of the light angle by using a fiber- coupled output, and lock the frequency of a distributed-feedback diode laser to the fluorescence spectrum of the atomic beam. The measured frequency stability is about 3.5 ×10^-11 at i s and reaches 1.5 × 10^-12 at 2000s. The Allan variance keeps going down for up to thousands of seconds, indicating that the medium- and long-term stability of the laser frequency is significantly improved and perfectly fulfills the requirement for the optical pumping cesium clock.

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.

Saturated absorption spectrum of cesium micrometric-thin cell with suppressed crossover spectral lines

Micrometric-thin cells(MCs)with alkali vapor atoms have been valuable for research and applications of hyperfine Zeeman splitting and atomic magnetometers under strong magnetic fields.We theoretically and experimentally study the saturated absorption spectra using a 100-μm cesium MC,where the pump and probe beams are linearly polarized with mutually perpendicular polarizations,and the magnetic field is along the pump beam.Because of the distinctive thin chamber of the MC,crossover spectral lines in saturated absorption spectra are largely suppressed leading to clear splittings of hyperfine Zeeman transitions in experiments,and the effect of spatial magnetic field gradient is expected to be reduced.A calculation method is proposed to achieve good agreements between theoretical calculations and experimental results.This method successfully explains the suppression of crossover lines in MCs,as well as the effects of magnetic field direction,propagation and polarization directions of the pump/probe beam on saturated absorption spectrum.The saturated absorption spectrum with suppressed crossover lines is used for laser frequency stabilization,which may provide the potential value of MCs for high spatial resolution strong-field magnetometry with high sensitivity.

Decreased vibrational susceptibility of Fabry-Perot cavities via designs of geometry and structural support

Ultra-stable optical cavities are widely used for laser frequency stabilization. In these experiments the laser performance relies on the length stability of the Fabry-Perot cavities. Vibration-induced deformation is one of the dominant factors that affect the stability of ultra-stable optical cavities. We have quantitatively analysed the elastic deformation of Fabry-Perot cavities with various shapes and mounting configurations. Our numerical result facilitates a novel approach for the design of ultra-stable cavities that are insensitive to vibrational perturbations. This approach can be applied to many experiments such as laser frequency stabilization, high-precision laser spectroscopy, and optical frequency standards.

Vibration insensitive optical ring cavity

The mounting configuration of an optical ring cavity is optimized for vibration insensitivity by finite element analysis. A minimum response to vertical accelerations is found by simulations made for different supporting positions.

Frequency control of a lattice laser at 759 nm by referencing to Yb clock transition at 578 nm

We present the frequency control of a 759 nm laser as a lattice laser for an ytterbium(Yb)optical clock.The frequency stability and accuracy are transferred from the Yb optical clock via an optical frequency comb.Although the comb is frequency-stabilized on a rubidium microwave clock,the frequency instability of the 759 nm laser is evaluated at the 10^(-15) level at 1 s averaging time.The frequency of the 759 nm laser is controlled with an uncertainty within 1 Hz by referencing to the Yb clock transition.Such a frequency-controlled 759 nm laser is suitable for Yb optical clocks as the lattice laser.The technique of laser frequency control can be applied to other lasers in optical clocks.

Frequency stabilization of a 214.5-nm ultraviolet laser

An improved method for stabilizing a frequency-quadrupled 214.5-nm tunable diode laser system is re- ported. Improvements to the method include a homemade logic circuit and the use of a Fabry-Perot optical spectrum analyzer as a transfer cavity. Lasers locked with this method exhibit megahertz-level frequency stability measured with an optical frequency comb referenced to a cesium atomic standard. The laser can be locked for hours to days, depending on experiment requirements. Being relatively inexpensive, stable, and robust, the control method can be applied to stabilizing essentially all lasers of deep ultraviolet wavelengths.

Laser stabilizing to ytterbium clock transition with Rabi and Ramsey spectroscopy

A cavity-stabilized 578 nm laser is used to probe the clock transition of ytterbium atoms trapped in optical lattice sites.We obtain a Fourier-limited 4.2-Hz-linewidth Rabi spectrum and a Ramsey spectrum with fringe linewidth of 3.3 Hz.Based on one of the spectra,the 578 nm laser light is frequency-stabilized to the center of the transition to achieve a closed-loop operation of an optical clock.Based on interleaved measurement,the frequency instability of a single optical clock is demonstrated to be 5.4×10-16/pτ.

Research of Homodyne Optical Fiber Communication System and Asociated Technologies

Because it has the advantages of high sensitivity, and it is easy to demodulate and convenient to select in FDM system, the coherent optical fiber communication system is much suitable to be used in long distance optical communication systems and in optical fiber WANs. There are two major patterns in coherent optical fiber communication: heterodyne and homodyne. Compared with the heterodyne scheme, the homodyne optical fiber communication system has the following advantages: (1) The sensitivity of the homodyne receiver is higher than that of the heterodyne receiver. As we know, the PSK homodyne optical fiber communication system has the highest sensitivity in coherent optical fiber communication systems. So it is much suitable to be used in long distance optical communication systems or in FDM systems. (2) Because the homodyne receiver only uses the baseband to demodulate the transmitted signals, it occupies much narrower frequency domain than the heterodyne receiver does, which makes it more suitable to be used in multichannel systems. (3) The demodulation pattern used in homodyne receiver is much easier than that used in the heterodyne receiver, since it only needs the baseband demodulation. Usually we construct a homodyne receiver with an optical phase locked loop (OPLL). The research of the OPLL began at 1960′s and the study of the homodyne receiver has been made gradually. In 1984, the first homodyne optical fiber communication system was demonstrated in BTRL, in which the signal laser and the local laser were all 1.5 μm He Ne gas lasers, and the OPLL used was a balanced one. In 1989, L.G.Kazovsky demonstrated experimentally a homodyne receiver in Bellcore using two 1.3 μm Nd:YAG lasers as the signal laser and the local laser and also using a balanced OPLL. Because the linewidth of the normal semiconductor laser is too large and its frequency stability is much poorer, it is very difficult to construct a homodyne receiver with the semiconductor lasers. At the end of 1989, the first Dissertation completed Jul. 1992homodyne optical fiber communication system using two 1.5 μm external cavity semiconductor lasers as the signal laser and the local laser, respectively, was finished in AT&T Bell Lab by J. M. Kahn, in which the OPLL was also a balanced one. In China, the research of the homodyne optical fiber communication system was funded by the National Seventh Five Year Program and by the National Natural Science Foundation. The difficulties to construct a homodyne optical fiber communication system are listed as follows: (1) In homodyne communication systems, the signal laser′s frequency should be stable to avoid the penalty of the receiver′s BER and the crosstalk to other channels in a FDM system, and the local laser could be tuned widely and easily to cover all the signal lasers′ frequency domain. Both the signal laser and the local laser should be narrow in linewidth to decrease the influence of the laser′s phase noise on the BER of the receiver. (2) The modulation pattern used should be studied and chosen carefully because the requirements of different kinds of modulation on the laser, the receiver and the channel are different. (3) Since the construction of the linear OPLL (the balanced) and the nonlinear OPLL (the Costas OPLL, or the Decision Driven OPLL) are rather different, their requirements on the linewidths of the lasers are different too, we should study the theory and the construction of the OPLL carefully to select the suitable scheme to realize. (4) In a multichannel system (such as a FDM system), the influence of crosstalk between channels on the homodyne system should be researched carefully. The technology used to stabilize the channel interval should also be studied. In this thesis, the homodyne optical fiber communication system has been theoretically analyzed, the technical difficulties of constructing the system have been studied. Several kinds of external cavity semiconductor laser have been researched experimentally. Compared