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Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)

New method for light-shift elimination

B. H. McGuyer, Yuan‐Yu Jau, W. Happer

Published Apr 1, 2009• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a new method to eliminate the light shift in atomic frequency standards and other optical pumping systems. This method uses only frequency modulation of a radio frequency or microwave source in order to simultaneously lock the source frequency to an atomic resonance and lock the pumping light to eliminate the light shift. In contrast, conventional stabilization of both sources requires two individual modulation schemes and feedback loops, adding complexity. Our method kills two birds with one stone. The method uses fewer additional components and offers improved performance, reduced cost, and easier miniaturization than previous methods. In particular, few modifications are required for implementation in conventional vapor-cell atomic clocks. We believe this technique will be useful for atomic frequency standards and other optical pumping systems that experience the light shift.

DOI
10.1109/freq.2009.5168343

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We present a new method to eliminate the light shift in atomic frequency standards and other optical pumping systems. This method uses only frequency modulation of a radio frequency or microwave source in order to simultaneously lock the source frequency to an atomic resonance and lock the pumping light to eliminate the light shift. In contrast, conventional stabilization of both sources requires two individual modulation schemes and feedback loops, adding complexity. Our method kills two birds with one stone. The method uses fewer additional components and offers improved performance, reduced cost, and easier miniaturization than previous methods. In particular, few modifications are required for implementation in conventional vapor-cell atomic clocks. We believe this technique will be useful for atomic frequency standards and other optical pumping systems that experience the light shift.
We report a simple method to suppress the light shift in optical pumping systems. This method uses only frequency modulation of a radio frequency or microwave source, which is used to excite an atomic resonance, to simultaneously lock the source frequency to the atomic resonance and lock the pumping light frequency to suppress the light shift. We experimentally validate the method in a vapor-cell atomic clock and verify the results through numerical simulation. This technique can be applied to many optical pumping systems that experience light shifts. It is especially useful for atomic frequency standards because it improves long-term performance, reduces the influence of the laser, and requires less equipment than previous methods.
Light shift and vapor-cell temperature shift are the two most significant factors dominating the long-term instability of compact atomic clocks. Due to the different physical mechanisms, there is not yet a solution that can effectively suppress the frequency shifts induced by these two effects. Here, we propose a 'resonance-offset' locking approach that compensates for the two physical frequency shifts. In this approach, the additional offset locking shift can effectively counteract the atomic resonance shifts arising from changes in vapor-cell temperature and light power, reducing the net impact on the clock's frequency to nearly zero. We have demonstrated this strategy on the 778 nm Rubidium two-photon optical frequency standard, successfully compensating for light shift and cell-temperature shift, respectively. This general method is particularly appealing for compact vapor-cell microwave and optical atomic clocks designed for the excellent stability rather than accuracy.
In order to eliminate the light shifts and to increase the stability of gas-cell atomic clocks using optical pumping of the alkali atoms, the detection of a microwave pulse-induced coherent emission is used as the correction signal to lock a crystal oscillator to the atomic transition. Also, the line width of the O-O hyperfine transition is artificially narrowed by subjecting the atoms in the cell to two phase-coherent microwave pulses. In this case the resonance line has a width characteristic of the pulse-repetition frequency which can be made several times smaller than the natural line width in the cell. Proper timing of the sequence of microwave pulses and light pulses for optical pumping is necessary to conserve phase coherence and to obtain a well-defined Ramsey pattern. Results of the tests on a laboratory model using Rubidium-87 atoms show the elimination of the light shifts and an improvement of the short-term stability of the crystal oscillator by one order of magnitude.
We investigate a novel method to suppress the light-shift effect in laser-pumped passive rubidium frequency standards. The reduction of the light-shift due to additional frequency components in the pumping light is studied theoretically and compared to experimental results obtained with a frequency-modulated DBR laser diode as a pumping light source. In this way, a reduction of the light shift by a factor of 55 was successfully demonstrated. Complete cancellation of the light shift can be reached with a suitably adjusted modulation index and frequency.
We describe a novel technique for stabilizing frequency shifts in laser-interrogated vapor-cell atomic clocks. The method suppresses frequency shifts due to changes in the laser frequency, intensity, and modulation index as well as atomic vapor density. The clock operating parameters are monitored by using the atoms themselves, rather than by using conventional schemes for laser frequency and cell temperature control. The experiment is realized using a chip-scale atomic clock. The novel atomic-based stabilization approach results in a simpler setup and improved long-term performance.
Abstract Chip-scale atomic clocks based on coherent population trapping (CPT) face challenges due to miniaturized gas cells, which reduces the CPT resonance signal and the absorption signals of alkali atoms. To overcome this, we propose a method that simultaneously stabilizes the laser wavelength and microwave modulation frequency without relying on absorption line detection. Our approach enables stabilization at the point where the amplitude of the CPT resonance signal is maximized, making it suitable for compact atomic clocks. The system uses three lock-in amplifiers: one is used to stabilize the RF modulation frequency, and the other two are used for detecting the amplitude of the CPT resonance and stabilizing the laser wavelength. The Allan deviation measurements demonstrate a 1.4-fold improvement in short-term stability compared to conventional methods, suggesting that the proposed technique is a promising solution for enhancing the performance of small gas-cell atomic clocks.