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arXiv:1910.11718 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Shelving spectroscopy of the strontium intercombination line

Isam Manai, A Molineri, C Fréjaville, C Duval, P Bataille, Romaric Journet, Fabrice Wiotte, B. Laburthe-Tolra, É. Maréchal, Marc Cheneau, M Robert-de-Saint-Vincent

Published Jan 27, 2020• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7 kHz wide 689 nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability ∼2 × 10 −12 at 1s limited by technical noise—about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6455/ab707f

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Shelving spectroscopy of the strontium intercombination line

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We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7-kHz-wide 689-nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability $\sim 2 \times 10^{-12}$ at 1 s limited by technical noise - about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.

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arXiv:1312.4117•AIP Advances•Feb 1, 2014•11 citations
Abstract We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7 kHz wide 689 nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability ∼2 × 10 −12 at 1s limited by technical noise—about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.
We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7-kHz-wide 689-nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability ∼2×10−12\sim 2 \times 10^{-12}∼2×10−12 at 1 s limited by technical noise - about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.
We report on our progress toward the realization of an optical frequency standard referenced to strontium intercombination lines. While first frequency measurement of the weakly allowed 1S 0- 3P 1 transition was done with saturation spectroscopy on a thermal beam, we are preparing the experimental setup for high resolution spectroscopy on ultracold atoms of the doubly forbidden 1S 0- 3P 0 line. Our current setup allows the capture more than 10 7 atoms at 1 μK in 500 ms in two stages of magneto-optical trapping. We also demonstrated the dipole trapping of ultracold strontium isotopes for accurate spectroscopy and collisional measurements. A semiconductor laser source at 698 nm has already been locked to a pre-stabilization cavity obtaining a fast linewidth of less than 1 kHz. Second stage stabilization of the clock laser to ultra-high finesse cavity is in development. Recent measurement of elastic and inelastic cross-sections of the two most abundant 88Sr and 86Sr isotopes are also presented.
Abstract Compact optical atomic clocks have become increasingly important in field applications and clock networks. Systems based on Ramsey-Bordé interferometry (RBI) with a thermal atomic beam seem promising to fill a technology gap in optical atomic clocks, as they offer higher stability than optical vapour cell clocks while being less complex than cold atomic clocks. Here, we demonstrate RBI with strontium atoms, utilizing the narrow "Equation missing" intercombination line at 689 nm, yielding a 60 kHz broad spectral feature. The obtained Ramsey fringes for varying laser power are analyzed and compared with a numerical model. The "Equation missing" transition at 461 nm is used for fluorescence detection. Analyzing the slope of the RBI signal and the fluorescence detection noise yields an estimated short-term stability of <4×10−14/τ/1 s<4\times 10^{-14} / \sqrt{\tau / {1~s}}<4×10−14/τ/1 s​ < 4 × 10 − 14 / τ / 1 s . We present our experimental setup in detail, including the atomic beam source, frequency-modulation spectroscopy to lock the 461 nm laser, laser power stabilization and the high-finesse cavity pre-stabilization of the 689 nm laser. Our system serves as a ground testbed for future clock systems in mobile and space applications.
We measure the transverse velocity distribution in a thermal Sr atomic beam precisely by velocity-selective saturated fluorescence spectroscopy. The use of an ultrastable laser system and the narrow intercombination transition line of Sr atoms mean that the resolution of the measured velocity can reach 0.13 m/s, corresponding to 90 μK in energy units. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations. Based on the spectroscopic techniques used here, the absolute frequency of the intercombination transition of 88Sr is measured using an optical-frequency comb generator referenced to the SI second through an H maser, and is given as 434 829 121 318(10) kHz.