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

Two-frequency Pumping in 87Rb Atomic Beam Frequency Standard with Laser Pumping/Detection for Space Application

A. Besedina, Arvid G. Gevorkyan, V. S. Zholnerov

Published May 1, 2007• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present our study on a two-frequency laser pumped87Rb atomic beam frequency standard for space applications. Two-frequency pumping was studied experimentally with using D2-line for the most efficient scheme (2-2' sigma; 1-1' pi) and proposed by us (2-2' sigma; 1-0' sigma) scheme. The achieved efficiency for two-frequency pumping using a new scheme was equal to 95%. In the shot noise limit we could achieve instability of sigmay(tau) les 1ldr10-13ldr tau-1/2Rb atomic beam frequency standard.

DOI
10.1109/freq.2007.4319147

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We present our study on a two-frequency laser pumped87Rb atomic beam frequency standard for space applications. Two-frequency pumping was studied experimentally with using D2-line for the most efficient scheme (2-2' sigma; 1-1' pi) and proposed by us (2-2' sigma; 1-0' sigma) scheme. The achieved efficiency for two-frequency pumping using a new scheme was equal to 95%. In the shot noise limit we could achieve instability of sigmay(tau) les 1ldr10-13ldr tau-1/2Rb atomic beam frequency standard.
We report on our progress towards the realization of a high-performance laser-pumped rubidium vapour-cell atomic frequency standard for satellite navigation. The conversion process of the laser's FM-AM noise which degrades the SNR of a gas-cell discriminator with87Rb and buffer gases was experimentally studied as a function of laser's intensity and its frequency using the double radio-optical resonance scheme (DROR) operating on two optical transitions: |2>-2P3/2or |1>-2P3/2. The new method is proposed and realized for fine tuning of a laser frequency to the value corresponding to the minimum value of FM-AM conversion noise. While using this method, the RFS breadboard is built.
We present our development activities on compact Rubidium gas-cell atomic frequency standards, for use in space-borne and ground-based applications. We experimentally demonstrate a high-performance laser optically-pumped Rb clock for space applications such as telecommunications, science missions, and satellite navigation systems (e.g. GALILEO). Using a stabilised laser source and optimized gas cells, we reach clock stabilities as low as 1.5·10-12 τ-1/2 up to 103 s and 4·10-14 at 104 s. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a laser-pumped Rb clock reaching < 1·10-12 τ-1/2 in a compact device (<2 liters, 2 kg, 20 W), given optimization of the implemented techniques. A second activity concerns more radically miniaturized gas-cell clocks, aiming for low power consumption and a total volume around 1 cm3 , at the expense of relaxed frequency stability. Here miniaturized “chip-scale” vapour cells and use of coherent laser interrogation techniques are at the heart of the investigations.
Recent work with laser diodes has indicated their potential usefulness in optically pumping atomic frequency standards. We consider various optical pumping schemes for 87-Rb incorporating such light sources at two D1 frequencies for experimental situations of either evacuated wall-coated cells or atomic beams. Numerical integration of rate equations governing the level populations with arbitrary pumping light choices of intensity, D1 hyperfine transition(s), and polarization and subsequent calculation of scattered light provide a simplified O-O hyperfine signal analysis.
This paper studies a miniature low power consumption laser-pumped atom vapour cell clock scheme. Pumping 87 Rb with a vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode pump and locking the laser frequency on a Doppler-broadened spectral line, it records a 5 × 10 −11 τ −1/2 (τ < 500 s) frequency stability with a table-top system in a primary experiment. The study reveals that the evaluated scheme is at the level of 2.7 watts power consumption, 90 cm 3 volume and 10 −12 τ −1/2 short-term frequency stability.
High precision portable and deployable frequency standards are required for modern navigation and communication technologies. Optical frequency standards are attractive for their improved stability over their microwave counterparts; however, increased complexities have anchored them in the laboratory. Sacrificing sensitivity of the most stable optical clocks has led to the recent development of deployable and portable optical frequency standards, leveraging hot atomic or molecular vapor. The short term limit for a majority of previous reports on two-photon rubidium standards is either the shot-noise or intermodulation limit hindering the one second fractional frequency stability to around 1×10−13/τ1\times10^{-13}/\sqrtτ1×10−13/τ​. The answer for the shot-noise limit is to increase optical power and collected fluorescence, while the intermodulation limit solution requires improvements in laser linewidth, stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) lasers are known to reduce frequency noise, suppressing noise of the pump laser at high offset frequencies. We investigate an optical frequency standard based on the two-photon transition in 87^{87}87Rb probed with a narrow linewidth photonic integrated circuit SBS laser with a quality factor over 130 million and instantaneous linewidth <<< 10 Hz. The use of a narrow linewidth clock laser coupled with operating at higher optical intensities yields clock instabilities of 2×10−142\times10^{-14}2×10−14 at one second, currently the best reported short-term stability for a two-photon rubidium optical frequency standard.