A high-stability semiconductor laser system for a 88Sr-based optical lattice clock

We describe a frequency-stabilized diode laser at 698 nm used for high-resolution spectroscopy of the 1 S 0 – 3 P 0 strontium clock transition. For the laser stabilization we use state-of-the-art symmetrically suspended optical cavities optimized for very low thermal noise at room temperature. Two-s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics. B, Lasers and optics Lasers and optics, 2011-04, Vol.103 (1), p.17-25
Main Authors: Tarallo, M. G., Poli, N., Schioppo, M., Sutyrin, D., Tino, G. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clocks
Engineering
Frequency stability
Holes
Lasers
Links
Optical Devices
Optical fibers
Optical lattices
Optics
Photonics
Physical Chemistry
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Optics
Spectroscopy
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Summary:We describe a frequency-stabilized diode laser at 698 nm used for high-resolution spectroscopy of the 1 S 0 – 3 P 0 strontium clock transition. For the laser stabilization we use state-of-the-art symmetrically suspended optical cavities optimized for very low thermal noise at room temperature. Two-stage frequency stabilization to high-finesse optical cavities results in measured laser frequency noise about a factor of three above the cavity thermal noise between 2 Hz and 11 Hz. With this system, we demonstrate high-resolution remote spectroscopy on the 88 Sr clock transition by transferring the laser output over a phase noise-compensated 200-m-long fiber link between two separated laboratories. Our dedicated fiber link ensures a transfer of the optical carrier with frequency stability of 7×10 −18 after 100 s integration time, which could enable the observation of the strontium clock transition with an atomic Q of 10 14 . Furthermore, with an eye toward the development of transportable optical clocks, we investigate how the complete laser system (laser+optics+cavity) can be influenced by environmental disturbances in terms of both short- and long-term frequency stability.
ISSN:0946-2171
1432-0649
DOI:10.1007/s00340-010-4232-2