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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Short-term stability of a microcell optical reference based on the Rb atom two-photon transition at 778 nm

Martin Callejo, Andrei Mursa, Rémy Vicarini, Emmanuel Klinger, Quentin A. A. Tanguy, Jacques Millo, Nicolas Passilly, Rodolphe Boudot

Published Nov 22, 2024• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on the development and short-term stability characterization of an optical frequency reference based on the spectroscopy of the rubidium two-photon transition at 778 nm in a microfabricated vapor cell. When compared against a 778 nm reference signal extracted from a frequency-doubled cavity-stabilized telecom laser, the short-term stability of the microcell frequency standard is 3.5×10−13τ−1/2 until 200 s, in good agreement with a phase noise level of +43dBrad2/Hz at 1 Hz offset frequency. The two main contributions to the short-term stability of the microcell reference are currently the photon shot noise and the intermodulation effect induced by the laser frequency noise. Retaining a relevant margin of progress, these results show the interest of this spectroscopic approach for the demonstration of high-stability miniaturized optical vapor cell clocks. Such clocks are poised to be highly beneficial for applications in navigation, communications, and metrology.

DOI
10.1364/josab.533904

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We report on the development and short-term stability characterization of an optical frequency reference based on the spectroscopy of the rubidium two-photon transition at 778 nm in a microfabricated vapor cell. When compared against a 778 nm reference signal extracted from a frequency-doubled cavity-stabilized telecom laser, the short-term stability of the microcell frequency standard is 3.5 $\times$ 10$^{-13}$ $τ^{-1/2}$ until 200~s, in good agreement with a phase noise level of $+$ 43 dBrad$^2$/Hz at 1~Hz offset frequency. The two main contributions to the short-term stability of the microcell reference are currently the photon shot noise and the intermodulation effect induced by the laser frequency noise. With still a relevant margin of progress, these results show the interest of this spectroscopic approach for the demonstration of high-stability miniaturized optical vapor cell clocks. Such clocks are poised to be highly beneficial for applications in navigation, communications, and metrology.

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Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Sep 20, 2021•30 citations
We report on the development and short-term stability characterization of an optical frequency reference based on the spectroscopy of the rubidium two-photon transition at 778 nm in a microfabricated vapor cell. When compared against a 778 nm reference signal extracted from a frequency-doubled cavity-stabilized telecom laser, the short-term stability of the microcell frequency standard is 3.5×10−13τ−1/2 until 200 s, in good agreement with a phase noise level of +43dBrad2/Hz at 1 Hz offset frequency. The two main contributions to the short-term stability of the microcell reference are currently the photon shot noise and the intermodulation effect induced by the laser frequency noise. Retaining a relevant margin of progress, these results show the interest of this spectroscopic approach for the demonstration of high-stability miniaturized optical vapor cell clocks. Such clocks are poised to be highly beneficial for applications in navigation, communications, and metrology.
We report on the development and short-term stability characterization of an optical frequency reference based on the spectroscopy of the rubidium two-photon transition at 778 nm in a microfabricated vapor cell. When compared against a 778 nm reference signal extracted from a frequency-doubled cavity-stabilized telecom laser, the short-term stability of the microcell frequency standard is 3.5 ×\times× 10−13^{-13}−13 τ−1/2τ^{-1/2}τ−1/2 until 200~s, in good agreement with a phase noise level of +++ 43 dBrad2^22/Hz at 1~Hz offset frequency. The two main contributions to the short-term stability of the microcell reference are currently the photon shot noise and the intermodulation effect induced by the laser frequency noise. With still a relevant margin of progress, these results show the interest of this spectroscopic approach for the demonstration of high-stability miniaturized optical vapor cell clocks. Such clocks are poised to be highly beneficial for applications in navigation, communications, and metrology.
Microfabricated (MEMS) alkali vapor cells are at the core of high-precision integrated atomic quantum sensors and devices [1], such as microwave and optical clocks, or magnetometers. The first chip-scale atomic device was a microwave atomic clock based on coherent population trapping [2]. It has offered in its industrial and commercialized version an ultra-low size-power -instability budget, impacting a plethora of industrial and scientific applications. Nevertheless, the short-term stability of these clocks is usually limited at about 10−10 at 1 s. Hot vapor MEMS-based optical frequency standards constitute a new generation of miniaturized clocks, with enhanced stability. These references keep the benefit of using wafer-scalable and mass-producible vapor cells while preventing ultra-high vacuum technologies and laser cooling. Among the transitions explored, the 6S1/2 → 7P1/2 near-UV transition of Cs atom was used to demonstrate an optical reference with a stability of 2.1 × 10−13 at 1 s and averaging down to a few 10−14 [3]. However, this reference was based on a 5 cm-long glass-blown cell, not compliant with the advent of a fully-miniaturized and low-power optical clock. In this work [4], we present the characterization of sub-Doppler resonances detected in a microfabricated cell by probing, in a simple saturated absorption configuration, the Cs atom 6S1/2 → 7P1/2 transition at 459 nm. The impact of the laser intensity and cell temperature on the sub-Doppler resonance is experimentally investigated. Optimal values are identified for the development of a near-UV microcell-stabilized frequency reference. Detection noise measurements are also reported, predicting a short-term stability in the 10−13 range at 1 s. Tests of cells with embedded getters are under progress for improved purity of the cell inner atmosphere and narrowing of the resonance.
The convergence of atomic spectroscopy, MEMS cell technologies and integrated photonics has led to the deployment of high-precision chip-scale atomic devices [1]. In this talk, we will present in-progress studies at FEMTO-ST Institute, France, for the development of microcellbased microwave and optical atomic clocks, with enhanced stability performances. In the first part, we will talk about the demonstration of CPT-based microwave cell clocks with stability at 1 day in the low 10−12 range [2], made possible thanks to the combination of advanced Ramsey-based interrogation sequences [3] and cells built with low gas permeation windows [4-5]. In the second part, we will discuss the in-progress development of a microcell-based optical frequency reference based on the two-photon transition of Rb atom at 778 nm. An encouraging short-term stability of 3 × 10−13 at 1 s and 3 × 10−14 at 100 s has been recently achieved [6]. Future studies will be briefly discussed.
The combination of atomic spectroscopy, integrated photonics, and microelectromechanical systems leads the way to the demonstration of microcell-based optical atomic clocks. Here, we report the short-term stability budget of table-top Cs microcell-stabilized lasers based on dual-frequency sub-Doppler spectroscopy (DFSDS). The dependence of the sub-Doppler resonance properties on key experimental parameters is studied. The detection noise budget and absolute phase noise measurements are in good agreement with the measured short-term frequency stability of the laser beatnote, at the level of 1.1 × 10 − 12 τ − 1 / 2 until 100 s, currently limited by the intermodulation effect from a distributed-feedback laser setup. The fractional frequency stability of the laser beatnote at 1 s is about 100 times greater than that of commercial microwave chip-scale atomic clocks and validates interest in the DFSDS approach for the development of high-performance microcell-based optical standards.