Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Laser Frequency Stabilization at $\leq 10^{-16}$ from a Thermal Atomic bBeam

Judith Olson, Richard W. Fox, Tara M. Fortier, Chris W. Oates, Andrew D. Ludlow

Published May 5, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a system for ultra-stable laser frequency generation using Ramsey-Borde interferometry with atomic calcium. Unprecedented frequency instabilities from a thermal ensemble are demonstrated © 2019 The Author(s).
DOI
10.23919/cleo.2019.8749792

Related papers

Ramsey-Borde Matter-Wave Interferometry with a Thermal Calcium Beam for Optical Frequency Stabilization ≤ 10-16

Judith Olson

This dissertation details the developments of a calcium thermal beam atom interferometer designed to act as an ultra-stable frequency reference over a broad range of timescales. The obtained fractional frequency instabilities of the final apparatus reached ≤ 10−16 after 10's of seconds of averaging without the aid of vibration isolation or significant apparatus temperature stabilization. The vastly superior stability performance of this calcium system compared to other thermal atomic references was facilitated by the enormous atom numbers from the thermal beam, which can be efficiently addressed with Bord\'e-Ramsey spectroscopy on the well-studied (4s2)1S0-(4s4p)3P1 (m=0) clock transition in neutral 40Ca. This method yields interrogation laser frequency dependent interference fringes with a linewidth of 1.6 kHz. This measurement is further enhanced with an electron-shelving detection scheme used for state detection after the interferometry process, causing each excited state atom to emit many hundreds of photons in the detection region. The exceptional instability results from this atom interferometer highlight an underutilized realm of precision measurement science based on relatively simple thermal ensembles. An intuitive understanding of the Bordé-Ramsey process is presented and relevant experimental techniques explained such that this dissertation should prove useful to a broad readership.

•Jan 1, 2019•0 citations

Optical Frequency Stabilization at the 10−16 Fractional Level Utilizing Ramsey-Borde Atom Interferometry

Judith Olson, Richard W. Fox, Tara M. Fortier +2 more

We demonstrate laser frequency stabilization at the 10-16fractional frequency level in one second through spectroscopy on a 650 °C calcium atomic beam. The calcium beam is interrogated with a cavity stabilized 657 nm laser arranged in a Ramsey-Borde configuration. A second laser at 431 nm reads off the final atomic state populations while allowing for high signal-to-noise. Limitations of this method are being explored and, and, based on current noise analysis, there is potential to achieve fractional frequency stabilities in the 10-17range or below.

Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements•Jul 1, 2018•1 citation

Ramsey-Bordé Matter-Wave Interferometry for Laser Frequency Stabilization at 10 − 16 Frequency Instability and Below

Judith Olson, Richard W. Fox, Tara M. Fortier +6 more

We demonstrate Ramsey-Bordé (RB) atom interferometry for high performance laser stabilization with fractional frequency instability <2×10^{-16} for timescales between 10 and 1000s. The RB spectroscopy laser interrogates two counterpropagating ^{40}Ca beams on the ^{1}S_{0}-^{3}P_{1} transition at 657 nm, yielding 1.6 kHz linewidth interference fringes. Fluorescence detection of the excited state population is performed on the (4s4p) ^{3}P_{1}-(4p^{2}) ^{3}P_{0} transition at 431 nm. Minimal thermal shielding and no vibration isolation are used. These stability results surpass performance from other thermal atomic or molecular systems by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, and further improvements look feasible.

arXiv:1907.06774•Physical Review Letters•Aug 13, 2019•61 citations

Prospects for 10^{-18} Instability Laser Referenced on Thermal Atomic Ensembles

Haosen Shang, Duo Pan, Zhang, Xiaogang +3 more

A thermal atomic ensemble-based laser source with superior frequency stability is proposed that relies on the accumulated contributions from an abundance of nonzero-transverse-velocity atomic ensembles. Compared with the traditional case in which only atoms with near-zero transverse velocities are utilized, the amplitude of the optical Ramsey fringes for a thermal calcium beam can be dramatically enhanced by three orders of magnitude or more, thus, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved 33-fold. Based on the recent results of atomic interferometry-based laser stabilization, a quantum projection noise-limited frequency instability less than 2E-17/tau^0.5 is feasible. Such an ultrastable laser has promising applications in diverse areas, including metrology and astronomy.

arXiv:2012.03430•Dec 7, 2020•2 citations

Ultrastable laser referenced on velocity-grating atom interferometry

Haosen Shang, Duo Pan, Xiaogang Zhang +3 more

A laser with superb frequency stability plays an important role in fundamental physics research and advanced technologies. Frequency references are usually utilized to stabilize the laser, such as high-finesse cavities and atomic ensembles, of which thermal atomic beams are attractive because of their balanced performance between simplicity and stability. However, due to the transverse-velocity distribution in the thermal atomic beams, most atoms (generally $>99%$) are wasted when interacting with the laser. Here, we propose a laser referenced on a version of velocity-grating Ramsey-Bord\'e atom interferometry with greatly improved atom utilization and thus superior laser frequency stability. Compared with a conventional atomic interferometry applied to stabilize the laser, the proposed system in principle generates optical Ramsey fringes with the amplitude enhanced by 1000-fold or more. Such a configuration has promising applications in diverse areas, including precision measurements and quantum metrology.

Physical Review A•May 23, 2022•8 citations

Progress Toward A Thermal Beam Calcium Interferometer

Cristopher Erickson, Dan Christensen, Marshall Van Zijill +3 more

We report on the construction of a next-generation atom interferometer. Our research includes developing passive stabilization techniques, low-noise laser current drivers, high-speed scan-balancing lock circuits, and high-speed, low-noise photo-detecting units. Our efforts have lead to developing an extremely stable laser locked to an ultra-high finesse optical cavity for use in a Ramsey-Borde interferometer scheme. The interferometer itself is based on a thermal calcium beam and will be upgraded in the future to a dual species Ca/Sr interferometer sensitive enough to improve measurements of possible time variance of the fine structure constant. Emphasis is given to the construction of the laser used in developing the interferometer.

•Jan 1, 2007•0 citations
Laser Frequency Stabilization at ≤10−16\leq 10^{-16}≤10−16 from a Thermal Atomic bBeam
This dissertation details the developments of a calcium thermal beam atom interferometer designed to act as an ultra-stable frequency reference over a broad range of timescales. The obtained fractional frequency instabilities of the final apparatus reached ≤ 10−16 after 10's of seconds of averaging without the aid of vibration isolation or significant apparatus temperature stabilization. The vastly superior stability performance of this calcium system compared to other thermal atomic references was facilitated by the enormous atom numbers from the thermal beam, which can be efficiently addressed with Bord\'e-Ramsey spectroscopy on the well-studied (4s2)1S0-(4s4p)3P1 (m=0) clock transition in neutral 40Ca. This method yields interrogation laser frequency dependent interference fringes with a linewidth of 1.6 kHz. This measurement is further enhanced with an electron-shelving detection scheme used for state detection after the interferometry process, causing each excited state atom to emit many hundreds of photons in the detection region. The exceptional instability results from this atom interferometer highlight an underutilized realm of precision measurement science based on relatively simple thermal ensembles. An intuitive understanding of the Bordé-Ramsey process is presented and relevant experimental techniques explained such that this dissertation should prove useful to a broad readership.
We demonstrate laser frequency stabilization at the 10-16fractional frequency level in one second through spectroscopy on a 650 °C calcium atomic beam. The calcium beam is interrogated with a cavity stabilized 657 nm laser arranged in a Ramsey-Borde configuration. A second laser at 431 nm reads off the final atomic state populations while allowing for high signal-to-noise. Limitations of this method are being explored and, and, based on current noise analysis, there is potential to achieve fractional frequency stabilities in the 10-17range or below.
We demonstrate Ramsey-Bordé (RB) atom interferometry for high performance laser stabilization with fractional frequency instability <2×10^{-16} for timescales between 10 and 1000s. The RB spectroscopy laser interrogates two counterpropagating ^{40}Ca beams on the ^{1}S_{0}-^{3}P_{1} transition at 657 nm, yielding 1.6 kHz linewidth interference fringes. Fluorescence detection of the excited state population is performed on the (4s4p) ^{3}P_{1}-(4p^{2}) ^{3}P_{0} transition at 431 nm. Minimal thermal shielding and no vibration isolation are used. These stability results surpass performance from other thermal atomic or molecular systems by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, and further improvements look feasible.
A thermal atomic ensemble-based laser source with superior frequency stability is proposed that relies on the accumulated contributions from an abundance of nonzero-transverse-velocity atomic ensembles. Compared with the traditional case in which only atoms with near-zero transverse velocities are utilized, the amplitude of the optical Ramsey fringes for a thermal calcium beam can be dramatically enhanced by three orders of magnitude or more, thus, the signal-to-noise ratio can be improved 33-fold. Based on the recent results of atomic interferometry-based laser stabilization, a quantum projection noise-limited frequency instability less than 2E-17/tau^0.5 is feasible. Such an ultrastable laser has promising applications in diverse areas, including metrology and astronomy.
A laser with superb frequency stability plays an important role in fundamental physics research and advanced technologies. Frequency references are usually utilized to stabilize the laser, such as high-finesse cavities and atomic ensembles, of which thermal atomic beams are attractive because of their balanced performance between simplicity and stability. However, due to the transverse-velocity distribution in the thermal atomic beams, most atoms (generally >99>99%>99) are wasted when interacting with the laser. Here, we propose a laser referenced on a version of velocity-grating Ramsey-Bord\'e atom interferometry with greatly improved atom utilization and thus superior laser frequency stability. Compared with a conventional atomic interferometry applied to stabilize the laser, the proposed system in principle generates optical Ramsey fringes with the amplitude enhanced by 1000-fold or more. Such a configuration has promising applications in diverse areas, including precision measurements and quantum metrology.
We report on the construction of a next-generation atom interferometer. Our research includes developing passive stabilization techniques, low-noise laser current drivers, high-speed scan-balancing lock circuits, and high-speed, low-noise photo-detecting units. Our efforts have lead to developing an extremely stable laser locked to an ultra-high finesse optical cavity for use in a Ramsey-Borde interferometer scheme. The interferometer itself is based on a thermal calcium beam and will be upgraded in the future to a dual species Ca/Sr interferometer sensitive enough to improve measurements of possible time variance of the fine structure constant. Emphasis is given to the construction of the laser used in developing the interferometer.