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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Development of an ultranarrow diode laser for interrogating the 674-nm2S 1/2 -2D 5/2 clock transition in Sr+

G. P. Barwood, K. Gao, Patrick Robert Gill, Guozheng Huang, Hugh A. Klein

Published May 3, 2001• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An optical frequency standard, based on the 674 nm 2S1/2-2D5/2 'clock' transition in a laser cooled trapped strontium ion is currently being evaluated at the UK National Physical Laboratory. The probe laser is a narrowed AlGaInP diode laser locked to a highly-stable and ultra-low- expansion high-finesse cavity. Laser linewidths of less than 200 Hz have been observed, measured by scanning over a single Zeeman component at 674 nm. The development of this laser is described, together with factors currently limiting the observed linewidth. Three 88Sr+ traps are now in operation, and the probe laser source can be simultaneously locked to the center of the 2S1/2 - 2D5/2 Zeeman multiplet in any two of the three traps, allowing a comparison between them. Recent results on this comparison are presented.

DOI
10.1117/12.424463

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The present decade has seen great advances in optical frequency standards following the development of femtosecond laser frequency combs. With this technology, combined with a stable and narrow probe laser source (50-100 Hz linewidth), we made a systematic study of the 5s 2S1/2-4d 2D5/2 (S-D) transition frequency of the 88Sr+ ion as a function of the quantization axis in the trap. This study revealed the presence of systematic shifts caused by residual micromotion in our rf Paul trap and led to an evaluation of those shifts. Also, a method was developed based on the measurement of the Zeeman spectrum of the clock transition to cancel the electric quadrupole shift caused by patch potentials on the trap electrodes. From these results, we also determined the absolute frequency of the S-D clock transition frequency at 674 nm with a fractional frequency uncertainty of 3.4 × 10-14. We have since made improvements to our probe laser system and have observed 5 Hz Fourier transform limited linewidths on a Zeeman component of the S-D transition of the 88Sr+ ion. To observe such a narrow transition it is essential to have a known and well behaved drift of the laser frequency during the few minutes it takes to measure the ion resonance using the quantum jump signal. Our approach to minimize the drift rate and its sensitivity to temperature fluctuations has been to stabilize the cavity at the temperature where its coefficient of thermal expansion is zero. We will present an overview of our recent progress made on the frequency standard based on the laser-cooled and trapped single ion of 88Sr+.

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Observation of a Sub-10-Hz Linewidth $^{88}\hbox{Sr}^{+ \ \ 2}\hbox{S}_{1/2}$–$^{2}\hbox{D}_{5/2}$ Clock Transition at 674 nm

G. P. Barwood, Patrick Robert Gill, Guilong Huang +1 more

In this paper, a pair of diode lasers at 674 nm, locked to two independent ultralow-expansion high-finesse cavities, have been characterized by monitoring the beat frequency between them. The individual laser linewidth of 1.4 Hz for a 3-s averaging time broadened to 4 Hz at 30 s. The relative frequency stability of the beat at 1s is 2.5 10-15. One of the lasers has been used to interrogate the88Sr+2Si1/2-2D5/2transition at 674 nm, and a transition linewidth of 9 Hz has been observed

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement•Mar 16, 2007•21 citations
An optical frequency standard, based on the 674 nm 2S1/2-2D5/2 'clock' transition in a laser cooled trapped strontium ion is currently being evaluated at the UK National Physical Laboratory. The probe laser is a narrowed AlGaInP diode laser locked to a highly-stable and ultra-low- expansion high-finesse cavity. Laser linewidths of less than 200 Hz have been observed, measured by scanning over a single Zeeman component at 674 nm. The development of this laser is described, together with factors currently limiting the observed linewidth. Three 88Sr+ traps are now in operation, and the probe laser source can be simultaneously locked to the center of the 2S1/2 - 2D5/2 Zeeman multiplet in any two of the three traps, allowing a comparison between them. Recent results on this comparison are presented.
The development of an all-solid-state systems of lasers is described for the cooling and probing of strontium ions in a radio-frequency (rf) trap. The Sr+ ions created within the rf trap are laser cooled by repeated cycling on the 422 nm 2S1/2 - 2P1/2 resonance transition. The 422 nm light was generated from a single mode 70 mW 844 nm diode laser, whose output was frequency doubled to 422 nm in a KNbO3 crystal inside a resonant enhancement cavity. Decays from the Sr+ upper resonance level into the 2D3/2 metastable state remove ions from the cooling cycle. This loss was prevented by driving the 1092 nm 2D3/2 - 2P1/2 transition using a Nd3+-doped fiber laser, diode-pumped at 826 nm. The 2S1/2 - 2D5/2 optical 'clock' transition at 674 nm has a natural linewidth of 0.4 Hz and may be probed with an AlGaInP laser diode. The laser diodes at 844 nm and 674 nm are both collimated using a piezo-mounted GRIN rod which also provides longitudinal mode selection. The spectral output is optically narrowed using resonant optical feedback.
A simultaneous observation of the optical-clock ${}^{2}{S}_{1/2}{\ensuremath{-}}^{2}{D}_{5/2}$ transition at 674 nm, in two separately trapped single 88Sr+{}^{88}{\mathrm{Sr}}^{+}88Sr+ ions, is reported. Two nominally identical miniature rf Paul traps were used together with a 674-nm sideband-injection-locked extended-cavity diode laser. This ``slave'' laser was optically phase locked about 650 MHz away from a ``master'' diode laser, which was itself locked to a high-finesse, ultra-low-expansion (ULE) cavity. The ULE cavity was temperature-stabilized and suspended in an evacuated enclosure, and provided an ``optical flywheel'' reference standard with a relative drift rate of better than 1 part in 1011{10}^{11}1011 per hour. The difference between center frequencies of the single 88Sr+{}^{88}{\mathrm{Sr}}^{+}88Sr+-ion 674-nm (445-THz) transition multiplet in two traps was 120(90) Hz (one standard uncertainty). Thus the two trap center frequencies agree to 3 parts in 1013.{10}^{13}.1013.
A prestabilized 674-nm diode laser has been narrowed by locking it to a high-finesse ultra-low-expansion cavity and kilohertz error signals have been observed. Lamb-Dicke confinement of single laser cooled Sr/sup +/ ions in a miniature rf trap has been demonstrated and micromotion reduction achieved. RF trap sidebands have been observed on the Sr/sup + 2/S/sub 1/2/-/sup 2/D/sub 5/2/ 674 mm clock transition. The transition frequency has been measured to be (444779043.98/spl plusmn/0.12) MHz (2/spl sigma/).
The present decade has seen great advances in optical frequency standards following the development of femtosecond laser frequency combs. With this technology, combined with a stable and narrow probe laser source (50-100 Hz linewidth), we made a systematic study of the 5s 2S1/2-4d 2D5/2 (S-D) transition frequency of the 88Sr+ ion as a function of the quantization axis in the trap. This study revealed the presence of systematic shifts caused by residual micromotion in our rf Paul trap and led to an evaluation of those shifts. Also, a method was developed based on the measurement of the Zeeman spectrum of the clock transition to cancel the electric quadrupole shift caused by patch potentials on the trap electrodes. From these results, we also determined the absolute frequency of the S-D clock transition frequency at 674 nm with a fractional frequency uncertainty of 3.4 × 10-14. We have since made improvements to our probe laser system and have observed 5 Hz Fourier transform limited linewidths on a Zeeman component of the S-D transition of the 88Sr+ ion. To observe such a narrow transition it is essential to have a known and well behaved drift of the laser frequency during the few minutes it takes to measure the ion resonance using the quantum jump signal. Our approach to minimize the drift rate and its sensitivity to temperature fluctuations has been to stabilize the cavity at the temperature where its coefficient of thermal expansion is zero. We will present an overview of our recent progress made on the frequency standard based on the laser-cooled and trapped single ion of 88Sr+.
We are studying a single Sr/sup +/ atom confined in a Paul trap to produce a frequency standard in the visible region of the spectrum. The goal is to excite a clock transition of the ion at 674 nm with a diode laser and measure its absolute frequency. It is only possible to probe the 0.3-Hz transition if the diode laser is extremely stable during the measurement process which in this experiment can take several minutes to complete. Frequency stabilization of the probing laser was achieved with a lock to an ultra-stable Fabry-Perot cavity. The cavity was temperature stabilized and has demonstrated good long term stability.
Observation of a Sub-10-Hz Linewidth 88Sr+  2S1/2^{88}\hbox{Sr}^{+ \ \ 2}\hbox{S}_{1/2}88Sr+  2S1/2​–2D5/2^{2}\hbox{D}_{5/2}2D5/2​ Clock Transition at 674 nm