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arXiv:2503.12895 · Optics Express

Offset sideband locking to iodine for laser cooling on the 1 S 0 → 3 P 1 transition of 171 Yb

Martin Hauden, Jacques Millo, Martina Matusko, Francisco Sebastian Ponciano Ojeda, Y. Kersalé, Marion Delehaye

Published Dec 4, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present absolute frequency measurements of a laser stabilized using an offset sideband locking technique on the P(49)24-1 rovibrational transition of 127 I 2 near 556 nm. The P(49)24-1 transition is offset by 4.8 GHz from the intercombination transition of 171 Yb. A dual-tone electro-optical modulator is employed to bridge this frequency gap, enabling frequency stabilization of the 556 nm laser near the Yb transition, achieving a fractional frequency stability of 1.2 × 10 −11 at one second. We thoroughly characterize the frequency shifts associated with this locking scheme, with typical systematic effects fractional uncertainties of 9 × 10 −12 .

DOI
10.1364/oe.547123

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We present absolute frequency measurements of a laser stabilized using an offset sideband locking technique on the P(49)24-1 rovibrational transition of 127 I 2 near 556 nm. The P(49)24-1 transition is offset by 4.8 GHz from the intercombination transition of 171 Yb. A dual-tone electro-optical modulator is employed to bridge this frequency gap, enabling frequency stabilization of the 556 nm laser near the Yb transition, achieving a fractional frequency stability of 1.2 × 10 −11 at one second. We thoroughly characterize the frequency shifts associated with this locking scheme, with typical systematic effects fractional uncertainties of 9 × 10 −12 .
We report laser frequency stabilization by the combination of modulation transfer spectroscopy and balanced detection of a relatively weak hyperfine transition of the R(158)25-0 line of molecular iodine ( 127 I 2 ), which is used as a new frequency reference for laser trapping and cooling of 174 Yb on the 1 S 0 − 3 P 1 transition. The atomic cloud is characterized by time-of-flight measurements, and an on-resonance optical depth of up to 47 is obtained. We show laser noise reduction and characterize the short-term laser frequency instability by the Allan deviation of the laser fractional frequency. The minimum measured value is 3.9 ×10 −13 at 0.17 s of averaging time.
A frequency-stabilized 556-nm laser is an essential tool for experimental studies associated with 1 S0-3 P1 intercombination transition of ytterbium (Yb) atoms.A 556-nm laser light using a single-pass second harmonic generation (SHG) is obtained in a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 (PPLN) crystal pumped by a fiber laser at 1111.6 nm.A robust frequency stabilization method which facilitates the control of laser frequency with an accuracy better than the natural linewidth (187 kHz) of the intercombination line is developed.The short-term frequency jitter is reduced to less than 100 kHz by locking the laser to a home-made reference cavity.A slow frequency drift is sensed by the 556-nm fluorescence signal of an Yb atomic beam excited by one probe beam and is reduced to less than 50-kHz by a computer-controlled servo system.The laser can be stably locked for more than 5 h.This frequency stabilization method can be extended to other alkaline-earth-like atoms with similar weak intercombination lines.
We propose a method to continuously frequency shift a target laser that is frequency stabilized by a reference laser, which is several hundreds of nanometers detuned. We demonstrate the technique using the 5S1/2→ 5P3/2→ 29D5/2Rydberg transition in87Rb vapor and lock the 482 nm target laser to the 780 nm reference laser using the cascaded electromagnetically induced transparency signal. The stabilized frequency of the target laser can be shifted by about 1.6 GHz by phase modulating the reference laser using a waveguide-type electro-optical modulator. This simple method for stable frequency shifting can be used in atomic or molecular physics experiments that require a laser frequency scanning range on the order of several GHz.
We demonstrate a straightforward frequency-locking technique that employs external modulation saturation absorption spectroscopy to achieve a high-performance 780 nm laser system. By externally modulating the laser frequency through a fiber electro-optic modulator, this scheme can stabilize multiple transitions of the 87Rb D2 line with excellent performance. Experimental results establish fractional frequency instability of 2.21 × 10-13 at 1 s with a linewidth of 1.46 kHz for the cycling transition 5S1/2(Fg = 2) → 5P3/2(Fe = 3). Notably, we have locked the system to the repumping transition 5S1/2(Fg = 1) → 5P3/2(Fe = 2), achieving a record-low instability of 1.98 × 10-12 at 1 s averaging time. This simplified laser system, featuring exceptional short-term frequency stability and multi-frequency locking capability, serves as a critical subsystem for the compact cold-atom optical clock, enabling advanced precision metrology applications. Furthermore, its metrological performance enables immediate applications in other quantum sensors, such as Rydberg electrometry, atomic magnetometry, and matter-wave interferometry.
Optical manipulation of Ba+ ions is performed mainly by a 493 nm laser for the S1/2−P1/2 transition and a 650 nm laser for the P1/2−D3/2 transition. Because the branching ratio between the 493 and 650 nm transitions of a single Ba+ ion is comparable, stabilization systems of both lasers are equally important for Doppler cooling, sub-Doppler cooling, optical pumping, and state detection. The stabilization system of a 493 nm laser to an absolute Te2 reference has been well established. However, the stabilization of a 650 nm laser to the absolute reference of an atomic or molecular spectrum has not been presented before, to our knowledge. Here, we experimentally obtain the I2 spectrum near 650 nm and provide the experimental connection to the spectrum of Ba+. We present the 20 spectral lines of I2 in the range of 0.9 GHz above the resonance of the P1/2−D3/2 transition. We stabilize the 650 nm laser through the optical cavity to the lowest one among these lines, which is about 350 MHz apart, as the absolute frequency reference. Finally, we measure the frequency differences between these iodine lines and the Ba+ resonance through the fluorescence excitation spectrum with well-resolved dark states, which is in agreement with the theoretical expectation. The presented stabilization scheme enables us to perform precise experiments with Ba+ ions.