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AIP conference proceedings

Optical Ramsey interferences on laser cooled and trapped atoms detected by electron shelving induced trap loss

Uwe Sterr, K. Sengstock, G. Hennig, D. Bettermann, Jörg Helge Müller, Wolfgang A. Ertmer

Published Jan 1, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Based on a new detection scheme, optical Ramsey fringes with a resolution of 4 kHz on the Mg 1S0‐3P1 intercombination line (λ=457 nm) have been detected using laser cooled and trapped atoms. Due to a pulsed excitation sequence, the signals are free from phase errors caused by the interacting laser fields and by the relativistic Doppler effect, resulting in an accuracy better than Δν/ν≊10−15. The influence of the electron shelving in the metastable 3P1 level on the trap dynamics is monitored on the fast and closed 1S0‐1P1 cooling transition (λ=285 nm). Simultaneously recorded Ramsey fringes on a thermal atomic beam allow a direct measurement of the second order Doppler shift.

DOI
10.1063/1.45076

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Based on a new detection scheme, optical Ramsey fringes with a resolution of 4 kHz on the Mg 1S0‐3P1 intercombination line (λ=457 nm) have been detected using laser cooled and trapped atoms. Due to a pulsed excitation sequence, the signals are free from phase errors caused by the interacting laser fields and by the relativistic Doppler effect, resulting in an accuracy better than Δν/ν≊10−15. The influence of the electron shelving in the metastable 3P1 level on the trap dynamics is monitored on the fast and closed 1S0‐1P1 cooling transition (λ=285 nm). Simultaneously recorded Ramsey fringes on a thermal atomic beam allow a direct measurement of the second order Doppler shift.
Future frequency Standards based on rf or optical atomic transitions will gain much precision from laser-cooled atoms, typically accessible in magneto-optical traps and molasses. In this respect magnesium possesses an attractive V-level scheme with the possible 457-nm clock transition offering a natural linewidth of only 30 Hz and the fast and closed 1S0–1P1 two-level transition (λ = 285 nm, τ ≃ ns) offering manipulation. In the experiment described here Mg24 atoms were captured in a magneto-optical trap1 (see Fig. 1) with storage times of typically a few seconds and a density of approximately 108 atoms/cm3 in a volume of (300 μm)3.
This paper presents the recent experimental results on development of an optical frequency standard based on ultra cold magnesium atoms with relative frequency uncertainty and long term stability at the level of Δ v/v <10 −16 . We stabilized the frequency of our clock laser system at 655 THz to narrow Ramsey fringes in a time separated laser fields interacting with cooled Mg atoms localized in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). The intercombination line 1 S 0 → 3 P 1 was used as the reference for frequency stabilization. The results of stabilization were studied with femtosecond comb based on Ti:Sa laser.
About 2/spl times/10/sup 7/ neutral strontium atoms have been loaded into a magneto-optical trap (MOT) that uses the narrow (/spl Gamma/=2/spl pi/ 7 kHz) intercombination line at 689 nm as the cycling transition. The atoms are second-stage laser cooled to /spl sim/10 /spl mu/K from an initial 5 mK atomic sample (/spl sim/5/spl times/10/sup 7/ atoms), generated in a vapor cell MOT that employs the strong (/spl Gamma/=2/spl pi/ 32 MHz) cycling transition at 461 nm. To demonstrate the low temperatures of these atoms, optical Ramsey spectroscopy is performed upon the /sup 1/S/sub 0/-/sup 3/P/sub 1/ transition using only two excitation pulses; the time dependence of the fringe contrast indicates an RMS velocity of 3 cm/s for the 689 nm MOT-cooled sample.
This dissertation details the developments of a calcium thermal beam atom interferometer designed to act as an ultra-stable frequency reference over a broad range of timescales. The obtained fractional frequency instabilities of the final apparatus reached ≤ 10−16 after 10's of seconds of averaging without the aid of vibration isolation or significant apparatus temperature stabilization. The vastly superior stability performance of this calcium system compared to other thermal atomic references was facilitated by the enormous atom numbers from the thermal beam, which can be efficiently addressed with Bord\'e-Ramsey spectroscopy on the well-studied (4s2)1S0-(4s4p)3P1 (m=0) clock transition in neutral 40Ca. This method yields interrogation laser frequency dependent interference fringes with a linewidth of 1.6 kHz. This measurement is further enhanced with an electron-shelving detection scheme used for state detection after the interferometry process, causing each excited state atom to emit many hundreds of photons in the detection region. The exceptional instability results from this atom interferometer highlight an underutilized realm of precision measurement science based on relatively simple thermal ensembles. An intuitive understanding of the Bordé-Ramsey process is presented and relevant experimental techniques explained such that this dissertation should prove useful to a broad readership.