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Optics Letters

Investigating the frequency-dependent amplification of a tapered amplifier in atom interferometers

Su Zhan, Xiao‐Chun Duan, Min-Kang Zhou, Hui-Bin Yao, Wenjie Xu, Zhong-Kun Hu

Published Dec 15, 2014• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present the investigation on the frequency-dependent amplification (FDA) of a tapered amplifier (TA) and the corresponding influence on Raman-type atom interferometers. In our interferometer, the output of two phase-locked diode lasers is injected into a TA to generate Raman beams. The frequency of one laser is chirped during the interfering process, which induces a variance of the Raman lasers power as a result of the FDA of the TA. The corresponding power ratio variation of the Raman lasers is measured by beat note method, which shows a linear dependence with a slope of -0.087(4)/GHz when the laser frequency changes over 2 GHz at 780 nm. The corresponding error related to AC Stark effect due to this frequency-dependent variation is estimated for our atom interferometer. The investigation presented here may provide hints for other experiments involving TAs.

DOI
10.1364/ol.40.000029

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We present the investigation on the frequency-dependent amplification (FDA) of a tapered amplifier (TA) and the corresponding influence on Raman-type atom interferometers. In our interferometer, the output of two phase-locked diode lasers is injected into a TA to generate Raman beams. The frequency of one laser is chirped during the interfering process, which induces a variance of the Raman lasers power as a result of the FDA of the TA. The corresponding power ratio variation of the Raman lasers is measured by beat note method, which shows a linear dependence with a slope of -0.087(4)/GHz when the laser frequency changes over 2 GHz at 780 nm. The corresponding error related to AC Stark effect due to this frequency-dependent variation is estimated for our atom interferometer. The investigation presented here may provide hints for other experiments involving TAs.
Simultaneous two-frequency amplification is highly desirable in cold atom experiments. The nonlinear response would appear in the two-frequency amplification with a semiconductor tapered amplifier (TA) and has a direct influence on the experimental result. We investigated in detail the effects of frequency difference, total power, and power ratio of two seeding lasers on the output components based on a simplified theoretical model. The simulation results showed that the multiple sideband generation in the amplifier due to self-phase and amplitude modulation could be suppressed and the TA tended to linearly amplify the power ratio between two-frequency components, when the two seeding lasers had a large frequency difference. This was verified experimentally in the output power ratio measurement via a calibrated Fabry–Perot interferometer method with a good linearity and an uncertainty of 1%. We also discussed the consequences of power ratio responses in the amplification in light of cold atom experiments, especially in the ac Stark shift related phase error of Raman-type atom interferometers (AIs). It was shown that the fluctuation of intensity ratio of Raman beams may induce significant systematic errors for an AI gyroscope.
Stimulated Raman transitions are often used in an atom interferometer (AI) for wave packet manipulation. Normally, two lasers with different frequencies contained in a Raman beam are combined first and then amplified by a single tapered amplifier (TA). This configuration can simplify the laser system of the AI, however, additional sidebands will be generated by the TA because of the nonlinear effect in the TA. In this work, the impact of additional sidebands generated with a single TA on the AI is studied. We first observe the additional sidebands in a Raman laser by a Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI), and the additional sidebands will be greatly suppressed by reducing the injection laser power of the TA. This is also confirmed by observing the position-dependent Raman transitions induced by additional sidebands at different injection power in an AI. However, the phase shifts induced by additional sidebands are not reduced obviously when the injection power of the TA is reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to separately amplify two lasers contained in the Raman laser by two TAs for a high precision AI. The spectroscopy of Raman laser generated by two TAs is also measured by the FPI, and the impact of additional sidebands on the AI is eliminated. This work has guiding significance for the design of the laser system in a high-precision AI.
The cold atom interferometer (CAI) is a high-precision inertial measurement instrument with wide-ranging applications. Identifying its error sources and enhancing its precision are critical for further improving its performance. This work identifies a phase shift in Raman lasers induced by the tapered amplifier (TA) and analyzes its subsequent effect on the atom interferometer measurements. We discover a periodic oscillation of this phase with linear variation of the TA temperature. A theoretical model is built to describe this phase shift in the context of the gain medium with a Fabry–Pérot effect. A method is proposed to measure the amplitude of the phase oscillation, which is insensitive to the drift of the measured phase. TA-induced phases under different TA parameters are then measured and their influence on a typical atom gravimeter is evaluated. Based on typical parameters, the estimated gravity measurement noise induced by the TA is 0.39 μ Gal.
We have experimentally studied multiple side-band generation for two-frequency components injected into a tapered amplifier (TA) and demonstrated its effects on atomic laser cooling. A heterodyne frequency-beat measurement and a Fabry-Perot interferometer have been applied to analyze the side-band generation with different experimental parameters, such as frequency difference, injection laser power, and TA current. In laser-cooling potassium40 and potassium41 with hyperfine splitting of 1.3 GHz and 254 MHz, respectively, the side-band generation with a small frequency difference has a significant effect on the number of trapped atoms.
Light shift produced by the AC Stark effect is one of the major factors limiting the accuracy and long-term stability of a cold atom interferometer. The first order light shift can be canceled by fixing the power ratio of the Raman beams at a specified value. We report here a new method to stabilize the power ratio of the two Raman lasers with ∼100 kHz locking bandwidth, suppressing the effect of the first order light shift. We first mixed the two Raman lasers (at different optical frequencies) with a reference beam and then used two Schottky diode detectors to extract the corresponding beat note signals for each beam, which are much easier to be manipulated and processed as they are in the microwave band. The stability of the power ratio is improved by three orders of magnitude from 5.84 × 10−3 to 3.51 × 10−6 at 1 s averaging time and reaches 1.59 × 10−7 at 10 000 s integrating time when the servo loop is engaged. This method can be used in other precise quantum measurement based on the stimulated Raman transition and can be applied to compact inertial sensors.
Raman pulse sequences are generally used to coherently manipulate the atomic wave packet in an atom interferometer.High power Raman beams allow more atoms join in the velocity-sensitive stimulated Raman transition,and that will be helpful for obtaining high signal to noise ratio in atom interferometer fringe.Development of high power Raman laser is important for cold atom interferometer experiments.The experimental realization of high power Raman lasers are demonstrated based on injection locking technique. Master laser is modulated by a 1.5 GHz acousto-optical modulator,and the±1 order diffraction lights are used as seeding Raman lasers.The seeding lasers are injection locked to two slave lasers which are further amplified as Raman beams.The frequency difference of Raman beams is 3.0 GHz,and the detuning range is about 200 MHz.