Progress Toward A Thermal Beam Calcium Interferometer

Cristopher Erickson, Dan Christensen, Marshall Van Zijill, M. Washburn, James L. Archibald, Dallin Durfee

Published Jan 1, 2007• 0 citations

Abstract

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.

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OpenAlex

Abstract

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{}^{1}

{S}_{0}

and

{}^{3}

{P}_{1}

states of a Ca atom was measured as a function of a laser power near the resonance of the ${}^{1}{S}_{0}{\ensuremath{-}}^{1}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}{P}_{1}$ transition at a wavelength of 423 nm. The decay rate of the

{}^{1}

{P}_{1}

state was determined to be $\ensuremath{\gamma}=1.91(33)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}$ s${}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$.

Laser Frequency Stabilization at

\leq 10^{-16}

from a Thermal Atomic bBeam