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Optica

Architecture for the photonic integration of an optical atomic clock

Zachary L. Newman, Vincent N. Maurice, Tara E. Drake, Jordan R. Stone, Travis C. Briles, Daryl T. Spencer, Connor D. Fredrick, Qing Li, Daron Westly, B. Ilic, Boqiang Shen, Myoung‐Gyun Suh, Ki Youl Yang, Cort Johnson, David M. S. Johnson, Leo W. Hollberg, Kerry J. Vahala, Kartik A. Srinivasan, Scott A. Diddams, John E. Kitching, Scott B. Papp, Matthew T. Hummon

Published May 16, 2019• 640 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Laboratory optical atomic clocks achieve remarkable accuracy (now counted to 18 digits or more), opening possibilities to explore fundamental physics and enable new measurements. However, their size and use of bulk components prevent them from being more widely adopted in applications that require precision timing. By leveraging silicon-chip photonics for integration and to reduce component size and complexity, we demonstrate a compact optical-clock architecture. Here a semiconductor laser is stabilized to an optical transition in a microfabricated rubidium vapor cell, and a pair of interlocked Kerr-microresonator frequency combs provide fully coherent optical division of the clock laser to generate an electronic 22 GHz clock signal with a fractional frequency instability of one part in 10^(13). These results demonstrate key concepts of how to use silicon-chip devices in future portable and ultraprecise optical clocks.

DOI
10.1364/optica.6.000680

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Laboratory optical atomic clocks achieve remarkable accuracy (now counted to 18 digits or more), opening possibilities to explore fundamental physics and enable new measurements. However, their size and use of bulk components prevent them from being more widely adopted in applications that require precision timing. By leveraging silicon-chip photonics for integration and to reduce component size and complexity, we demonstrate a compact optical-clock architecture. Here a semiconductor laser is stabilized to an optical transition in a microfabricated rubidium vapor cell, and a pair of interlocked Kerr-microresonator frequency combs provide fully coherent optical division of the clock laser to generate an electronic 22 GHz clock signal with a fractional frequency instability of one part in 10^(13). These results demonstrate key concepts of how to use silicon-chip devices in future portable and ultraprecise optical clocks.
Laboratory optical atomic clocks achieve remarkable accuracy (now counted to 18 digits or more), opening possibilities to explore fundamental physics and enable new measurements. However, their size and use of bulk components prevent them from being more widely adopted in applications that require precision timing. By leveraging silicon-chip photonics for integration and to reduce component size and complexity, we demonstrate a compact optical-clock architecture. Here a semiconductor laser is stabilized to an optical transition in a microfabricated rubidium vapor cell, and a pair of interlocked Kerr-microresonator frequency combs provide fully coherent optical division of the clock laser to generate an electronic 22 GHz clock signal with a fractional frequency instability of one part in 10^13. These results demonstrate key concepts of how to use silicon-chip devices in future portable and ultraprecise optical clocks.
Abstract Photonic integrated circuits are revolutionizing quantum optical systems as they can drastically reduce Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) requirements by consolidating bulk optical components onto singular photonic chips. We demonstrate the use of an integrated photonic laser to excite the two-photon clock 5S1/2(F = 2) → 5D5/2(F = 4) transition in 87Rb, thereby frequency-stabilizing the integrated laser to this transition. We achieve a measured fractional frequency instability of 3 × 10–12 at 1 s of integration time, which integrates down for 130 s. This demonstrates the potential of integrated photonic lasers for broader use in future integrated quantum photonic systems, including optical atomic clocks.
Optical frequency standards surpass their microwave counterparts in both stability and accuracy, yet they are often bulky, power-hungry, and unable to operate outside of a well-controlled laboratory environment. Leveraging a two-photon transition in 87{}^{87}87Rb vapor and recent advances in fiber frequency combs, the authors build an optical clock to beat the current portable standards, with an architecture that can be made compact and low-power. These results point the way to a real-world optical frequency standard of even higher stability, for applications such as satellite navigation.
Atomic clocks represent the most advanced instruments for providing time-frequency standards, with increasing demand for designs that offer high frequency stability while minimizing size. Central to an atomic clock’s function is the atomic vapor cell, which serves as the quantum reference. Compared to traditional cells, wafer-level micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) vapor cells enable cost-effective, scalable production and facilitate integration with silicon-based chips. In this work, we present a wafer-level MEMS vapor cell featuring an innovative silicon-glass-silicon transverse optical path structure. A single wafer is used to fabricate 24 identical atomic vapor cells, each with precise dimensions of 14 mm×14 mm×4.3 mm, ensuring scalability. We demonstrate an optical frequency standard that combines modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) with a MEMS vapor cell, featuring a compact design with excellent performance. This frequency standard achieves stability over averaging times of 1–400 s, with short-term stability of 2.6×10 −13 at 1 s and 5.1×10 −14 at 200 s. The laser linewidth is only 3.9 kHz, marking a substantial improvement over existing thermal standards, and opening potential applications in navigation, radar, and precision measurement. This work provides a crucial step toward the development of chip-scale optical clocks.
Abstract We describe three independent research directions focussed on the development of next-generation chip-scale atomic clocks, which combine small size, low power consumption and manufacturability with high frequency stability. The use of optical transitions in microfabricated vapor cells improves both short- and long-term frequency stability to near 10−13 at the cost of the added complexity of a chip-scale optical frequency comb. Chip-scale atomic beam microwave clocks have been successfully demonstrated and offer the potential for microsecond-level timing accuracy over one week. And finally, Sr vapor cells have been developed with lifetimes exceeding 250 hours and residual gas pressures below 1 Torr.
Optical frequency standards, or lasers stabilized to atomic or molecular transitions, are widely used in length metrology and laser ranging, provide a backbone for optical communications and lie at the heart of next-generation optical atomic clocks. Here we demonstrate a compact, low-power optical frequency reference based on the Doppler-free, two-photon transition in rubidium-87 at 778 nm implemented on a micro-optics breadboard. Our optical reference achieves a fractional frequency instability of 2.9×10−12/ τ for averaging times τ less than 103 s, has a volume of ≈35 cm3 and operates on ≈450 mW of electrical power. The advanced optical integration presented here demonstrates a key step towards the development of compact optical clocks and the broad dissemination of SI-traceable wavelength references.