Absolute frequency measurement of rubidium 5S-7S two-photon transitions with a femtosecond laser comb

The absolute frequencies of rubidium 5S-7S two-photon transitions at 760 nm are measured to an accuracy of 20 kHz with an optical frequency comb based on a mode-locked femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. The rubidium 5S-7S two-photon transitions are potential candidates for frequency standards and serve as important optical frequency standards for telecommunication applications. The accuracy of the hyperfine constant of the 7S1/2 state is improved by a factor of 5 in comparison with previous results.     

Magic Wavelengths for the 1S-2S and 1S-3S Transitions in Hydrogen Atoms

The dynamic dipole polarizabilities for 1S,2S and 3S states of the hydrogen atom are calculated using the finite B-spline basis set method,and the magic wavelengths for 1S-2S and 1S-3S transitions are identified.In comparison of the solutions from the Schrodinger and Dirac equations,the relativistic corrections on the magic wavelengths are of the order of 10~(-2) nm.The laser intensities for a 300-E_r-deep optical trap and the heating rates at 514 and 1371 nm are estimated.The reliable prediction of the magic wavelengths would be helpful for the experimental design on the optical trapping of the hydrogen atoms,and in turn,it would be helpful to improve the accuracy of the measurements of the hydrogen 1S-2S and 1S-3S transitions.     

Improved measurement of the hydrogen 1S-2S transition frequency

We have measured the 1S-2S transition frequency in atomic hydrogen via two-photon spectroscopy on a 5.8 K atomic beam. We obtain f(1S-2S) = 2,466,061,413,187,035 (10) Hz for the hyperfine centroid, in agreement with, but 3.3 times better than the previous result [M. Fischer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 230802 (2004)]. The improvement to a fractional frequency uncertainty of 4.2 × 10(-15) arises mainly from an improved stability of the spectroscopy laser, and a better determination of the main systematic uncertainties, namely, the second order Doppler and ac and dc Stark shifts. The probe laser frequency was phase coherently linked to the mobile cesium fountain clock FOM via a frequency comb.     

Absolute frequency measurements of the 2(3)S1-->2(3)P 0,1,2 atomic helium transitions around 1083 nm

We measure the frequency of the 2(3)S1-->2(3)P(0,1,2) transitions of helium in a metastable beam using an optical frequency comb synthesizer. The relative uncertainty of these measurements ranging from 5x10(-11) to 7x10(-12) is, to our knowledge, the most precise result for any optical helium transition. Considering existing accurate values of the 2(3)P fine structure, we measure a centroid value of the 2(3)S-2(3)P frequency of 276 736 495 624.6(2.4) kHz, improving the previous interferometric measurement by 30 times. New accurate values of the 2(3)S-2(3)P and 2(3)P Lamb-shift energies are obtained.     

Measurement of the hydrogen 1S- 2S transition frequency by phase coherent comparison with a microwave cesium fountain clock

We report on an absolute frequency measurement of the hydrogen 1S-2S two-photon transition in a cold atomic beam with an accuracy of 1.8 parts in 10(14). Our experimental result of 2 466 061 413 187 103(46) Hz has been obtained by phase coherent comparison of the hydrogen transition frequency with an atomic cesium fountain clock. Both frequencies are linked with a comb of laser frequencies emitted by a mode locked laser.     

用于氢原子1S-2S光谱研究的超窄线宽243nm半导体激光

近年来,随着激光稳频技术的发展,人们可以把972nm的外腔半导体激光器产生的激光进行放大和四倍频,并将它锁定到超稳定的光学法布里-珀罗腔上,从而可以获得Hz量级超窄线宽的243nm激光,使其成为研究氢原子1S-2S双光子跃迁的有力工具.文章主要介绍了超稳腔、四倍频243nm半导体激光器的研究进展及在氢原子1S-2S双光子跃迁精密光谱研究中的应用.     

243 nm稳频窄线宽半导体激光器

243 nm是氢原子1S-2S能级跃迁光谱波长. 本文利用Pound-Drever-Hall稳频技术将972 nm光栅反馈外腔半导体激光稳定在一个高精细度低膨胀系数的超稳法布里-珀罗腔上, 通过锥形放大器放大和腔内两次共振增强倍频得到243 nm激光, 最终实现用于探测氢原子1S-2S双光子跃迁的243 nm窄线宽激光.     

Observation of rubidium 5S1/2 --> 7S1/2 two-photon transitions with a diode laser

The 5S1/2 --> 7S1/2 two-photon transition of atomic rubidium, which is 100 times weaker than the 5S-5D transition, is observed with an extended-cavity diode laser and a vapor cell. Signals with a signal-to-noise ratio of 280 are obtained with a laser power of 10 mW, and the observed linewidth is 3 MHz. The laser wavelength is 760 nm and is locked on the transitions to a stability of 2 x 10(-11). For the first time to our knowledge, the isotope shift of this transition is measured to be 130(4) MHz in atomic frequency.     

用于氢原子1S-2S光谱研究的超窄线宽243nm半导体激光

近年来,随着激光稳频技术的发展,人们可以把972nm的外腔半导体激光器产生的激光进行放大和四倍频,并将它锁定到超稳定的光学法布里-珀罗腔上,从而可以获得Hz量级超窄线宽的243nm激光,使其成为研究氢原子1S-2S双光子跃迁的有力工具.文章主要介绍了超稳腔、四倍频243nm半导体激光器的研究进展及在氢原子1S-2S双光子跃迁精密光谱研究中的应用.     

Optical clock with millihertz linewidth based on a phase-matching effect

We propose a new scheme for the optical frequency standard based on the phase-matching effect of the nonadiabatic interaction of two quasimonochromatic fields with the states 1S0, 1P1, and 3P0 of atoms 88Sr, which are trapped in an optical lattice with magic wavelength. After establishing the phase correlation between two laser fields by the nonadiabatic process, the final linewidth for the difference frequency field, which can be generated by a nonlinear optical crystal, is about 1 mHz.     

Sweep optical frequency synthesizer with a distributed-Bragg-reflector laser injection locked by a single component of an optical frequency comb

A sweep optical frequency synthesizer is demonstrated by using a frequency-stabilized optical frequency comb and injection-locked distributed-Bragg-reflector (DBR) laser diode. The injection-locked DBR laser acts as a single-frequency filter and, simultaneously, a high-gain amplifier of the optical frequency comb. The frequency instability of the heterodyne beat signal between two independently injection-locked DBR lasers is measured to be 2.3 x 10(-16) at 1 s averaging time. The output frequency of the sweep optical frequency synthesizer can be precisely tuned over 1 GHz, and a saturated absorption spectrum of the Cs D2 line at 852 nm is recorded by the injected DBR laser.     

Development of two-color laser system for high-resolution polarization spectroscopy measurements of atomic hydrogen

We have developed a high-spectral-resolution laser system for two-photon pump, polarization spectroscopy probe (TPP-PSP) measurements of atomic hydrogen in flames. In the TPP-PSP technique, a 243-nm laser beam excites the two-photon 1S-2S transition, and excited n=2 atoms are then detected by polarization spectroscopy of the n=2 to n=3 transition using 656-nm laser radiation. The single-frequency-mode 243 and 656-nm beams are produced using injection-seeded optical parametric generators coupled with pulsed dye amplifiers. The use of single-mode lasers allows accurate measurement of signal line shapes and intensities even with significant pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in pulse energies. Use of single-mode lasers and introduction of a scheme to select nearly constant laser energies enable repeatable extraction of important spectral features in atomic hydrogen transitions.     

Absolute frequency measurement of a SF6 two-photon line by use of a femtosecond optical comb and sum-frequency generation

We demonstrate a new, simple technique for measuring IR frequencies near 30 THz by using a femtosecond (fs) laser optical comb and sum-frequency generation. The optical frequency is directly compared with the distance between two modes of the fs laser, and the resultant beat note is used to control this distance, which depends only on the repetition rate of the fs laser. The absolute frequency of a CO2 laser stabilized onto a SF6 two-photon line has been measured for the first time to the authors' knowledge. This line is an attractive alternative to the usual saturated absorption OsO4 resonances used for the stabilization of CO2 lasers. First results demonstrate a fractional Allan deviation of 3 x 10(-14) at 1 s.     

Observation and absolute frequency measurements of the 1S0-3P0 optical clock transition in neutral ytterbium

We report the direct excitation of the highly forbidden (6s2) 1S0 <--> (6s6p) 3P0 optical transition in two odd isotopes of neutral ytterbium. As the excitation laser frequency is scanned, absorption is detected by monitoring the depletion from an atomic cloud at approximately 70 microK in a magneto-optical trap. The measured frequency in 171Yb (F=1/2) is 518,295,836,591.6 +/- 4.4 kHz. The measured frequency in 173Yb (F=5/2) is 518,294,576,847.6 +/- 4.4 kHz. Measurements are made with a femtosecond-laser frequency comb calibrated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology cesium fountain clock and represent nearly a 10(6)-fold reduction in uncertainty. The natural linewidth of these J=0 to J=0 transitions is calculated to be approximately 10 mHz, making them well suited to support a new generation of optical atomic clocks based on confinement in an optical lattice.     

High-resolution 133Cs 6S-6D, 6S-8S two-photon spectroscopy using an intracavity scheme

This Letter presents an intracavity scheme for diode laser based two-photon spectroscopy. To demonstrate generality, three (133)Cs hyperfine transition groups of different wavelengths are shown. For the 6S-6D transitions, we achieved a 10(2) times better signal-to-noise ratio than in previous work [J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74, 2487 (2005)] with 10(-3) times less laser power, revealing some previously vague and unobserved spectra. Possible mutual influences between the two-photon absorber and laser cavity were investigated for the first time to our knowledge, which leads to the application of a reliable hand-sized optical frequency reference. Our approach is applicable for most of the two-photon spectroscopy of alkali atoms.     

Absolute frequency measurement of the In+ clock transition with a mode-locked laser

The absolute frequency of the In(+) 5s(2) (1)S(0)5s5p (3)P(0) clock transition at 237 nm was measured with an accuracy of 1.8 parts in 10(13). Using a phase-coherent frequency chain, we compared the (1)S(0)(3)P(0) transition with a methane-stabilized HeNe laser at 3.39 mum, which was calibrated against an atomic cesium fountain clock. A frequency gap of 37 THz at the fourth harmonic of the HeNe standard was bridged by a frequency comb generated by a mode-locked femtosecond laser. The frequency of the In(+) clock transition was found to be 1 267 402 452 899.92 (0.23) kHz, the accuracy being limited by the uncertainty of the HeNe laser reference. This result represents an improvement in accuracy of more than 2 orders of magnitude over previous measurements of the line and now stands as what is to our knowledge the most accurate measurement of an optical transition in a single ion.s.     

Effects of light on cesium 6S-8S two-photon transition

This work presents a simple approach for determining the contribution of Lorentzian or Gaussian statistics by data fitting the spectrum to a Voigt profile. The fitting result shows that the Lorentzian width remains almost constant (∼1.51 MHz) and the Gaussian width increases (∼1.0-2.0 MHz) while changing the laser intensity or atomic density. The frequency shift associated with the cesium 6S-8S two-photon transition as a function of laser power is approximately ), agrees closely with the theoretical value. These results can be used to improve the optical secondary frequency standard in the near infrared region.     

Intermittent frequency offset lock of a symmetric three-mode stabilized He-Ne laser to an iodine stabilized He-Ne laser

There is a need for an intense, unmodulated single-frequency stabilized laser light that guarantees absolute optical frequency in a rapid laser calibration or an ultra-high resolution interferometer. To obtain such a light, we developed a new laser system that uses an intermittent frequency offset lock of a symmetric three-mode stabilized He-Ne laser to an iodine stabilized He-Ne laser. The proposed laser system provides two operational modes: (1) independent and (2) slave mode. In the independent mode, frequency of the three-mode laser is stabilized via control of frequency difference between two intermode beats. The resultant output is a single longitudinal mode light of maximum intensity that locates at the top of the gain curve. Frequency instability of 8X10^-12 (at a sampling time of 100 s) which is better than conventional stabilized lasers is attained in the independent mode. Slow optical frequency drift during the independent mode is periodically corrected by the offset lock to the iodine stabilized laser (slave mode), resulting in accurate reset of the frequency drift. After reset of the frequency deviation, the three-mode laser is again operated in the independent mode. Due to such intermittent offset lock, duty factor of the iodine stabilized laser was reduced to a few % of continuous operation.     

Optical frequency measurement of the 1S–3S two-photon transition in hydrogen

This article reports the first optical frequency measurement of the 1S–3S transition in hydrogen. The excitation of this transition occurs at a wavelength of 205 nm which is obtained with two frequency doubling stages of a titanium sapphire laser at 820 nm. Its frequency is measured with an optical frequency comb. The second-order Doppler effect is evaluated from the observation of the motional Stark effect due to a transverse magnetic field perpendicular to the atomic beam. The measured value of the 1S_1/21\mathrm{S}_{1/2}(F = 1)-3S_1/2(F = 1) frequency splitting is 2 922 742 936.729(13) MHz with a relative uncertainty of 4.5 × 10^-12. After the measurement of the 1S–2S frequency, this result is the most precise of the optical frequencies in hydrogen.