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Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)

Ultra-Stable and Tunable Fabry-Perot Cavity for an Ytterbium Based Superradiant Laser

Martin Hauden, Martina Matusko, Jana El Badawi, Y. Kersalé, F. Ponciano-Ojeda, Marion Delehaye

Published May 15, 2023• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

SummaryActive optical atomic clocks are emerging as a new promising tool for time and frequency metrology. Such clocks have the potential to reach a fractional frequency instability in the 10-18range at one second [1]. These references are based on the superradiant emission of an ensemble of atoms coupled to a single mode of the electromagnetic field [2]. For optical references, this coupling is achieved through a resonant high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity that therefore plays a crucial role to reach superradiant lasing. Specific characteristics are required to permit superradiant emission in a metrologically relevant regime: tunability of the cavity resonant frequency, ability to accommodate atoms and low fractional length fluctuations, in the order of 10-13. This work shows the conception, through simulation, assembly and preliminary characterization of this Fabry Perot cavity.

DOI
10.1109/eftf/ifcs57587.2023.10272178

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Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)•May 15, 2023•1 citation
SummaryActive optical atomic clocks are emerging as a new promising tool for time and frequency metrology. Such clocks have the potential to reach a fractional frequency instability in the 10-18range at one second [1]. These references are based on the superradiant emission of an ensemble of atoms coupled to a single mode of the electromagnetic field [2]. For optical references, this coupling is achieved through a resonant high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity that therefore plays a crucial role to reach superradiant lasing. Specific characteristics are required to permit superradiant emission in a metrologically relevant regime: tunability of the cavity resonant frequency, ability to accommodate atoms and low fractional length fluctuations, in the order of 10-13. This work shows the conception, through simulation, assembly and preliminary characterization of this Fabry Perot cavity.
Optical Fabry-Perot cavities are crucial tools for metrology experiments, where they achieve extreme length stability and now can serve as highly proficient references for probing fine atomic transitions. For some atomic physics experiments however, tunability of the system to atomic transitions enables atom-light interactions. Achieving both frequency stability and tunability in a single cavity has remained a challenge, forcing metrology experiments exploiting atom-cavity interactions to rely on external active feedback systems to stabilize the length of the cavity. Here, we describe a piezoelectrically-tunable cavity with a cancellation of the coefficient of thermal expansion at around 5^\circ\mathrm{C} 5 ∘ C , achieving a fractional frequency instability of 4× 10^{-13} 4 × 10 − 13 level for 1 s integration time. This advance eliminates the need for external stabilization in many atom-cavity experiments, making this design ideal for applications such as ultra-stable superradiant lasers and other cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments.
We investigate the intensity stability of the superradiant laser. Our study focuses on the architecture where a continuous beam of atoms in an electronically excited state crosses the mode of a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity, which has been proposed as a new architecture of an active optical clock. We show that such superradiant laser can become unstable and develop chaotic behavior. We derive an analytical criterion for this instability and find that it may only occur when the lifetime of photons in the cavity is significantly shorter than the lifetime of atoms. This criterion allows for refining the necessary parameters to run a superradiant laser as a frequency reference in the optical domain. In particular, we point-out the consequences of the instability on intensity fluctuations and laser linewidth. On the other hand, we also point out that the superradiant laser, when in the unstable regime, can become an interesting playground for studying chaos. At the mean-field level, there is a direct mapping to the Bénard instability associated with fluid turbulence; however quantum fluctuations associated with photon out-coupling and atom re-filling substantially modify the expected behaviors. Finally, we point-out the existence of a regular self-pulsing regime at large atom numbers.
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.
The development of laser-machined, ultralow roughness micromirrors on optical fiber tips has enabled a new type of high-finesse Fiber Fabry-Perot cavities (FFPs). These microcavities are used very successfully in an increasing number of quantum technology applications, reaching from single-photon sources with various solid-state emitters to entanglement generation in ultracold atomic ensembles. They are also attractive for general photonics applications where high cavity finesse is desired, combinin narrow resonance width and large stopband with high transmission, excellent passive stability and built-in fiber coupling. I will give a short overview of this cavity technology and describe an experiment where we are using a next-generation FFP cavity to generate long-lived spin squeezed states in an atomic clock on a chip.
Vers un laser superradiant : ensembles atomiques d’ytterbium et développements métrologiques pour des références de fréquence ultra-stables Cette thèse présente les premières étapes vers la réalisation d’un oscillateur superradiant ultra-stable. Elle explore l’utilisation du phénomène quantique de superradiance, qui repose sur la cohérence et l’indistinguabilité d’un ensemble atomique pour produire une émission optique cohérente. Un laser superradiant est constitué d’atomes couplés collectivement à une cavité Fabry-Perot, fonctionnant dans le régime dit de ``mauvaise cavité'' afin de minimiser la sensibilité aux fluctuations de cavité.Dans ce travail, la première réalisation et caractérisation d’un ensemble atomique d’ytterbium refroidi sont démontrées, jetant les bases d’un futur fonctionnement superradiant. L’installation expérimentale pour le transport des atomes dans la cavité a été planifiée, permettant un chargement séquentiel des atomes pour une émission superradiant quasi-continue.Afin de soutenir la future caractérisation du laser superradiant, une liaison optique fibrée compensée a été mise en place pour le transfert local de fréquence ultra-stable. Ce système intègre un traitement du signal entièrement numérique et une méthode de caractérisation innovante ne nécessitant pas d’accès à l’extrémité distante de la fibre. L’instabilité relative de fréquence obtenue atteint l’ordre de 10^{-18}, démontrant ainsi son adéquation pour la dissémination de fréquence de haute précision au sein d’un institut.
SummaryWe present our progress on the construction of a171Yb-based active optical atomic clock. The ytterbium (Yb) atoms, initially in a collimated thermal beam generated in an oven, are decelerated using a Zeeman slower to the capture velocity (~ 10 ms-1) for a magneto-optical trap on the1S0→3P1transition at 556 nm. This allows us to generate an ensemble of N >106atoms at temperatures below 100 μK, which will be transported using an optical conveyor belt to an ultra-stable (σy~ 10-13) cavity of finesse on the order of 104. Here, the atoms will be prepared in order to generate a superradiant emission which will serve as the frequency reference on the1S0→3P0clock transition in171Yb.