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Applied Physics Letters

Dye laser frequency locking to the hyperfine structure (3S1/2, F=2−3P1/2, F=2) of sodium D1 line by using polarization spectroscopy

Jung Bog Kim, Hong Jin Kong, Sang Soo Lee

Published Feb 8, 1988• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The frequency of a single-mode dye laser is locked to a hyperfine structure of the sodium D1 line without modulating the laser frequency. The frequency locking method uses the error signal from a dispersion curve generated from the polarization spectroscopic output. The servo loop provides a frequency fluctuation less than ±0.3 MHz for more than 30 min.

DOI
10.1063/1.99428

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Abstract We experimentally generate polarization spectroscopy (error) signals corresponding to the D2-line hyperfine transitions, F g = 2 → F e = 1 , 2 , 3 of 87Rb, and F g = 3 → F e = 2 , 3 , 4 of 85Rb, and show that the strongest error signals correspond to the closed hyperfine transitions (oscillator strength ∼ 0.7 ), F g = 2 → F e = 3 and F g = 3 → F e = 4 , respectively. We make the generated error signal robust to fluctuations in external parameters by finding optimum values for the vapor cell temperature and pump-probe intensities at two different beam diameters. We further employ these optimized error signals to directly (without the need for frequency/phase modulation) lock the laser frequency—reducing the rms drift/linewidth from ∼ 10 MHz to < 500 kHz, when measured over a ∼ 60 min duration. In addition, by comparing theoretically calculated and experimentally measured error signals for the pump intensities ranging from ∼ 0.1 I sat 0 − 10 I sat 0 (where, I sat 0 ∼ 1.6 mW cm−2 is the two-level saturation intensity for the Rb D2-line transitions), we discuss the applicability and limitations of existing numerical and analytical approaches based on a full multi-level rate equation model for polarization spectroscopy.

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Modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) is widely used in an optical laboratory for laser frequency stabilization. There have been many theoretical and experimental papers on this spectroscopic method. However, most of the works focus on the cycling transitions like the D2 line of rubidium. In this paper, the MTS for noncycling transitions is investigated. We consider the D1 line of rubidium whose modulation transfer spectrum has been determined and compared to the polarization spectrum. It is found that the slope of the modulation transfer signal is sharper than the polarization spectrum. The performance of laser frequency locking based on the MTS method is better than that of the polarization spectroscopy method. The dependence of the signal amplitude on the temperature of the vapor cell was analyzed, and the high signal-to-noise-ratio spectra are achieved for D1 open transitions. The obtained results provide an effective spectroscopic method for the robust frequency locking of a laser at a wavelength of 795 nm.

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Optics Express•Nov 7, 2013•36 citations
The frequency of a single-mode dye laser is locked to a hyperfine structure of the sodium D1 line without modulating the laser frequency. The frequency locking method uses the error signal from a dispersion curve generated from the polarization spectroscopic output. The servo loop provides a frequency fluctuation less than ±0.3 MHz for more than 30 min.
Abstract We experimentally generate polarization spectroscopy (error) signals corresponding to the D2-line hyperfine transitions, F g = 2 → F e = 1 , 2 , 3 of 87Rb, and F g = 3 → F e = 2 , 3 , 4 of 85Rb, and show that the strongest error signals correspond to the closed hyperfine transitions (oscillator strength ∼ 0.7 ), F g = 2 → F e = 3 and F g = 3 → F e = 4 , respectively. We make the generated error signal robust to fluctuations in external parameters by finding optimum values for the vapor cell temperature and pump-probe intensities at two different beam diameters. We further employ these optimized error signals to directly (without the need for frequency/phase modulation) lock the laser frequency—reducing the rms drift/linewidth from ∼ 10 MHz to < 500 kHz, when measured over a ∼ 60 min duration. In addition, by comparing theoretically calculated and experimentally measured error signals for the pump intensities ranging from ∼ 0.1 I sat 0 − 10 I sat 0 (where, I sat 0 ∼ 1.6 mW cm−2 is the two-level saturation intensity for the Rb D2-line transitions), we discuss the applicability and limitations of existing numerical and analytical approaches based on a full multi-level rate equation model for polarization spectroscopy.
When sodium vapor is irradiated with a single-frequency dye laser (pump) tuned in the vicinity of either of the Doppler-broadened D lines and enclosed in an optical cavity, Raman shifted oscillation builds up, which is blue shifted for a blue-detuned pump and red shifted for a red-detuned pump by 1.772 GHz (sodium ground-state hyperfine splitting).1 The gain mechanism responsible for this Raman-laser action can be understood by modeling sodium as a three-level atom. The Raman laser frequency is highly correlated with that of the pump as demonstrated earlier by observing a beat frequency bandwidth between the two lasers of as low as 17 kHz.2 (The pump had rms frequency fluctuation of the order of 10 MHz.) For spectroscopic applications, for example, frequency correlated laser beams are commonly generated using acoustooptic techniques which are difficult to implement beyond the gigahertz region. The Raman laser technique is extendable, in principle, even to the millimeter range. Here we present measurements of the sodium-density and pump-intensity dependence of the Raman-laser output and compare the results with those predicted by the three-level-atom model.
Modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) is widely used in an optical laboratory for laser frequency stabilization. There have been many theoretical and experimental papers on this spectroscopic method. However, most of the works focus on the cycling transitions like the D2 line of rubidium. In this paper, the MTS for noncycling transitions is investigated. We consider the D1 line of rubidium whose modulation transfer spectrum has been determined and compared to the polarization spectrum. It is found that the slope of the modulation transfer signal is sharper than the polarization spectrum. The performance of laser frequency locking based on the MTS method is better than that of the polarization spectroscopy method. The dependence of the signal amplitude on the temperature of the vapor cell was analyzed, and the high signal-to-noise-ratio spectra are achieved for D1 open transitions. The obtained results provide an effective spectroscopic method for the robust frequency locking of a laser at a wavelength of 795 nm.
An all-optical locking technique without extra electrical feedback control system for a semiconductor laser has been used in stabilizing the laser frequency to a hyperfine crossover transition of 87Rb 5(2)S(1/2), F = 2 → 5(2)P(3/2), F' = 2, 3 with 1 MHz level accuracy. The optical feedback signal is generated from the narrow-band Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF) with nonlinear saturation effect. The peak transmission of the narrow-band FADOF corresponding to 5(2)S(1/2), F = 2 → 5(2)P(3/2), F' = 2, 3 crossover transition is 18.6 %. The bandwidth is as wide as 38.9 MHz as the laser frequency changes. After locking, the laser frequency fluctuation is reduced to 1.7 MHz. The all-optical laser locking technique can be improved to much higher accuracy with increased external cavity length. The laser we have realized can provide light exactly resonant with atomic transitions used for other atom-light interaction experiments.