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Optics Letters

Laser stabilization with a frequency-to-voltage chip for narrow-line laser cooling

John J. McFerran

Published Mar 19, 2018• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We use integrated circuit-based frequency-to-voltage conversion of a frequency comb beat signal as the means for laser frequency stabilization that is suitable for narrow-line laser cooling. The method is compared to an atomic beam lock where the laser frequency instability for the new scheme shows an improvement of 2 orders of magnitude at sub-1 s and grants a lock-capture range that is approximately 30 times greater. We employ the locking method on a 1111.6 nm laser that is frequency doubled and used in a dual-wavelength magneto-optical trap for Yb171 atoms, producing atomic cloud temperatures of ∼20 μK.

DOI
10.1364/ol.43.001475

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Laser Physics•Sep 1, 2007•1 citation
We use integrated circuit-based frequency-to-voltage conversion of a frequency comb beat signal as the means for laser frequency stabilization that is suitable for narrow-line laser cooling. The method is compared to an atomic beam lock where the laser frequency instability for the new scheme shows an improvement of 2 orders of magnitude at sub-1 s and grants a lock-capture range that is approximately 30 times greater. We employ the locking method on a 1111.6 nm laser that is frequency doubled and used in a dual-wavelength magneto-optical trap for Yb171 atoms, producing atomic cloud temperatures of ∼20 μK.
Laser cooling to micro-Kelvin temperatures requires a laser with active frequency stabilization. The linewidth of an atomic transition sets a lower bound on the Doppler cooling temperature. The 2s-2p transition in lithium-6 has a Doppler temperature of ~140 μK In contrast, the 2s-3p transition has a narrower linewidth and thus provides a lower temperature limit of ~20 μK. We present a method for stabilizing a laser to an atomic line in a vapor cell using modulation transfer spectroscopy and a home-built lock-in amplifier. Our results demonstrate successful locking of a 323 nm laser to the 2s-3p transition. The stabilized laser provides a second stage of magneto-optical trapping that results in a factor of ∼5 increase in the phase space density before evaporating to degeneracy in an optical dipole trap.
We present a standalone frequency-offset locking system for controlling narrow-linewidth lasers using off-the-shelf electronic components. We lock two frequency-doubled 1560 nm lasers to a stable primary laser operating at 780 nm via their optical beat note. This radio-frequency beat note is fed through a broadband variable divider, a frequency-to-voltage converter, and a proportional-integrator controller to lock each follower laser to a tunable offset frequency relative to the primary. This architecture provides a large capture range (>1> 1>1 GHz), fast response times (<1< 1<1 ms), and high linearity. We achieve a frequency resolution of 1.9 kHz and a short-term fractional frequency instability 10−11/τ(s)10^{-11}/\sqrt{τ\rm (s)}10−11/τ(s)​ at 780 nm without the need for a dedicated, precise clock reference. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy of cold 87^{87}87Rb atoms to demonstrate the tunability and precision of our locking system. We designed the system to be modular and extensible, making it applicable to a wide variety of atomic physics experiments, including laser cooling, spectroscopy, and quantum sensing with atoms, ions, and molecules.
A frequency-stabilized light source emitting at 556 nm is realized by frequency doubling a 1112 nm laser, which is phase locked to a fiber-based optical frequency comb. The 1112 nm laser is either an ytterbium (Yb)-doped distributed feedback fiber laser or a master-slave laser system that uses an external cavity diode laser as a master laser. We have achieved the continuous frequency stabilization of the light source over a 5 day period. With the light source, we have completed the second-stage magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of Yb atoms using the S10–P31 intercombination transition. The temperature of the ultracold atoms in the MOT was 40 μK when measured using the time-of-flight method, and this is sufficient for loading the atoms into an optical lattice. The fiber-based frequency comb is shown to be a useful tool for controlling the laser frequency in cold-atom experiments.
The utilization of atomic or molecular spectroscopy for frequency locking of single-frequency laser to improve laser frequency stability plays an important role in the experimental investigation of optically pumped atomic magnetometers, atomic clocks, laser cooling and trapping of atoms, etc. We have experimentally demonstrated a technique for frequency stabilization of a single-frequency laser employing the bright state spectroscopy (BSS) with a rubidium atomic vapor cell. By utilizing the counter-propagating dual-frequency 795 nm laser beams with mutually orthogonal linear polarization and a frequency difference of 6.834 GHz, which is equal to the hyperfine splitting of rubidium-87 ground state 5S1/2, an absorption-enhanced signal with narrow linewidth at the center of Doppler-broadened transmission spectroscopy is observed when continuous scanning the laser frequency over rubidium-87 D1 transition. This is the so-called BSS. Amplitude of the absorption-enhanced signal in the BSS is much larger compared with the conventional saturation absorption spectroscopy (SAS). The relationship between linewidth and amplitude of the BSS signal and laser beam intensity has been investigated. This high-contrast absorption-enhanced BSS signal has been employed for the laser frequency stabilization. The experimental results show that the frequency stability is 4.4×10−11 with an integration time of 40 s, near one order of magnitude better than that for using the SAS.
The laser cooling of ytterbium (Yb) atoms needs a 399-nm laser which operates on the strong 1 S0 -1 P1 transition and can be locked at the desired frequencies for different Yb isotopes.We demonstrate a frequency locking method using the fluorescence spectrum of an Yb atomic beam as a frequency reference.For unresolved fluorescence peaks, we make the spectrum of the even isotopes vanish by using the strong angular-dependence of the fluorescence radiations; the remained closely-spaced peaks are thus clearly resolved and able to serve as accurate frequency references.A computer-controlled servo system is used to lock the laser frequency to a single fluorescence peak of interest, and a frequency stability of 304 kHz is achieved.This frequency-locked laser enables us to realize stable blue magneto-optic-traps (MOT) for all abundant Yb isotopes.
We report a frequency stabilization technique of a diode laser in a Doppler-free atomic transition used for obtaining the magneto-optical trapping of Rb atoms. This technique, based on side locking to an atomic transition using a servo controller, is very simple and can be implemented straightforwardly to lock the laser at the red detuned frequency position required for laser cooling experiments. The number of trapped atoms and the temperature of the cold cloud have been determined. The effect of trapping the magnetic field on the cloud radius has also been analyzed.