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arXiv:2005.02651 · Optics Express

Optical frequency analysis on dark state of a single trapped ion

Adam Lešundák, Tuan M. Pham, Martin Čížek, Petr Obšil, Lukáš Slodička, Ondřej Čı́p

Published Mar 24, 2020• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

ion. The response of the detected photon rate to the relative laser frequency deviations is recorded within the slope of a dark resonance formed in the lambda-type energy level scheme corresponding to two optical dipole transitions. This approach enhances the sensitivity to the small frequency deviations and does so with reciprocal dependence on the fluorescence rate. The employed lasers are phase locked to an optical frequency comb, which allows for precise calibration of optical frequency analysis by deterministic modulation of the analyzed laser beam with respect to the reference beam. The attainable high signal-to-noise ratios of up to a MHz range of modulation deviations and up to a hundred kHz modulation frequencies promise the applicability of the presented results in a broad range of optical spectroscopic applications.

DOI
10.1364/oe.389411

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ion. The response of the detected photon rate to the relative laser frequency deviations is recorded within the slope of a dark resonance formed in the lambda-type energy level scheme corresponding to two optical dipole transitions. This approach enhances the sensitivity to the small frequency deviations and does so with reciprocal dependence on the fluorescence rate. The employed lasers are phase locked to an optical frequency comb, which allows for precise calibration of optical frequency analysis by deterministic modulation of the analyzed laser beam with respect to the reference beam. The attainable high signal-to-noise ratios of up to a MHz range of modulation deviations and up to a hundred kHz modulation frequencies promise the applicability of the presented results in a broad range of optical spectroscopic applications.
Trapped ions, as one of the pillars of progress in frequency metrology and quantum optics, require a complex experimental environment with well-defined conditions. We present that a feature called dark resonance, provided by the trapped ion itself, can be used as a versatile sensor for enhanced in-situ analysis of interacting fields. The dark resonance is formed in the lambda-type energy level scheme of a laser cooled 40Ca+ ion and corresponds to a fluorescence quenching. The method uses an analysis of the detection times of photons emitted from the upper energy level, which is excited via two optical dipole transitions. The two excitation lasers are phase locked to an optical frequency comb to reduce their linewidths and for precise control of their optical frequencies within the dark resonance. The amplitudes of interacting fields are obtained using the Fourier transform of the ion fluorescence or photon correlation measurements. This paper shows that the method can be applied for sensing of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic fields. Firstly, we present the potential for frequency analysis of the secular motion of a few-ion Coulomb crystal, which corresponds to the axial static electric field of a linear ion trap. Secondly, we demonstrate the optical frequency analysis of the employed lasers driving the two transitions. In the last case we show the analysis of an alternating magnetic field at the position of single ion.
Single ions trapped and laser cooled provide ideal objects for high resolution spectroscopy and frequency standards. For the latter purpose we are investigating the 5s2 1S0 → 5s5p 3P0 transition of In+. With a natural linewidth of only 1.1 Hz this resonance offers very high resolution and is highly immune to frequency shifts due to external electromagnetic fields, because it connects two levels with vanishing electronic magnetic momenta [1]. The wavelength of this clock transition is 236.5 nm and is technically very convenient, since it coincides with the fourth harmonic of the 946 nm Nd:YAG laser line. So this intrinsically frequency stable solid-state laser can be used to excite the transition [2]. For laser cooling and fluorescence detection of the indium ion the 5s2 1So -> 5s5p 3P1 transition at 230.6 nm can be employed. The use of the relatively narrow intercombination line for laser cooling allows us to study optical sideband cooling in the strong binding regime, where the oscillation frequencies of the ion in the trap (around 1 MHz) are larger than the optical linewidth of 360 kHz. In this parameter range laser cooling is possible to the quantum ground state of the vibrational motion in the trap corresponding to a temperature of roughly 100 μK. The same low temperature was obtained with sideband cooling of a small Coulomb crystal consisting of two ions, creating an interesting new quantum few-particle system.
We have demonstrated simultaneous laser frequency stabilization of a UV and IR laser, to coupled transitions of ions in the same spectroscopic sample, by detecting only the absorption of the UV laser. Separate signals for locking the different lasers are obtained by modulating each laser at a different frequency and using lock-in detection of a single photodiode signal. Experimentally, we simultaneously lock a 369 nm and a 935 nm laser to the (2)S(1/2) → (2)(P(1/2) and (2)D(3/2) → (3)D([3/2]1/2) transitions, respectively, of Yb(+) ions generated in a hollow cathode discharge lamp. Stabilized lasers at these frequencies are required for cooling and trapping Yb(+) ions, used in quantum information and in high precision metrology experiments. This technique should be readily applicable to other ion and neutral atom systems requiring multiple stabilized lasers.
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Transitions between discrete energy levels in well-isolated atomic systems are highly reproducible and therefore make ideal references for highly accurate frequency standards or clocks. In particular, a single laser-cooled ion confined in a radiofrequency ion trap closely approximates the spectroscopic ideal of a particle at rest in a perturbation-free environment. Narrow optical transitions in such systems are therefore very promising for the realization of optical clocks with accuracy around 2 orders of magnitude higher than current microwave primary standards. In this paper the fundamental aspects, current performance and applications of trapped ion optical clocks are reviewed and the potential for future improvements is considered.
Fluorescence loss spectrum for detecting cold Rydberg atoms with high sensitivity has been obtained based on lock-in detection of fluorescence of 6P3/2 state when cooling lasers of the magneto-optical trap are modulated. The experiment results show that the signal to noise ratio has been improved by 32.64 dB when the modulation depth (converted to laser frequency) and frequency are optimized to 4 MHz and 6 kHz, respectively. This technique enables us to perform a highly sensitive non-destructive detection of Rydberg atoms.