An active optical frequency reference using a pulsed superradiant laser
Juan Muniz Silva, Julia Cline, James K. Thompson +1 more
We will describe a next-generation active atomic frequency reference based on super-radiant pulses of laser light from the ultra-narrow, 1 mHz linewidth, optical clock transition in an ensemble of cold 87Sr atoms. Light is stimulated from the millihertz linewidth transition by confining an ensemble of laser cooled atoms inside of a high finesse optical cavity. Such a light source has been proposed as a next-generation active atomic frequency reference, with the potential to enable high-precision optical frequency references to be used outside laboratory environments. We achieve a remarkable short term fractional frequency stability, 6.7 × 1016 at 1 s of averaging, absolute accuracy, 2 Hz (4 × 1015 fractional frequency), and high insensitivity to changes in the cavity length that limits the performance of todays more stable lasers. We will also discuss current work on cavity-enhanced dispersive measurements to perform high resolution spectroscopy and atom counting.
Optical and Quantum Sensing and Precision Metrology II•Mar 1, 2019•4 citations