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Optics Letters

GHz-scale rapid frequency-hopping laser system for atom interferometry

Rui Han, Wei Li, Xiaobin Xu, Yitong Song, Chengchun Gao, Cheng Dai, Ningfang Song

Published Apr 22, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a dual-laser architecture capable of GHz-scale rapid frequency hopping for atom interferometers (AIs). The system integrates two phase-locked fixed-external-cavity diode lasers: a reference laser stabilized to Rubidium 87 D 2 transition and a slave laser phase-locked to the reference via an optical phase-lock loop. This configuration achieves rapid frequency hopping of 1.1 GHz in 65 µs without unlock-and-relock process. Validated through Raman spectroscopy and optical depth measurements in a fiber-guided AI, the laser system provides a potential solution for developing miniaturized portable AIs.

DOI
10.1364/ol.560645

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We demonstrate a dual-laser architecture capable of GHz-scale rapid frequency hopping for atom interferometers (AIs). The system integrates two phase-locked fixed-external-cavity diode lasers: a reference laser stabilized to Rubidium 87 D 2 transition and a slave laser phase-locked to the reference via an optical phase-lock loop. This configuration achieves rapid frequency hopping of 1.1 GHz in 65 µs without unlock-and-relock process. Validated through Raman spectroscopy and optical depth measurements in a fiber-guided AI, the laser system provides a potential solution for developing miniaturized portable AIs.
Narrow-linewidth lasers with absolute frequency anchoring are essential for precision metrology, coherent sensing, and emerging quantum technologies beyond laboratory environments. Optical cavities and interferometers provide exceptional short-term spectral purity but lack intrinsic absolute frequency references. Atomic transitions, in contrast, provide stable frequency anchors but offer limited discrimination sensitivity. Recent hybrid approaches have demonstrated the combination of compact optical resonators with atomic references, yet achieving the Hz-level regime remains challenging. Here, we present a hybrid architecture that enables simultaneous realization of Hz-level linewidth and atomic-referenced frequency stability. An external-cavity diode laser is first stabilized to a fiber interferometer to achieve Hz-level spectral purity, while the interferometer is subsequently anchored to an 87Rb D2 transition via modulation transfer spectroscopy to suppress long-term drift and define the laser frequency relative to the atomic transition. This dual-stabilization scheme realizes a compact atomic-referenced laser with a 3.4-Hz linewidth (1-rad integrated-phase method), a minimum fractional frequency stability of 3.4x10-14 at 0.56 s, and 9x10-13 at 100 s. This architecture establishes a practical and scalable route toward compact and field-deployable atomic-referenced narrow-linewidth lasers for precision metrology and quantum technologies.
A compact laser system for a portable 87Rb atom interferometry gravimeter has been demonstrated in this work. This laser system is based on frequency doubling of a single seed laser at the wavelength of 1560 nm. The frequency of the seed laser is controlled by a digital unit with an analog feedback circuit. By using this frequency control method, the frequency of the laser system can be shifted over 1 GHz. Based on this method, the Raman frequency can be locked on the F = 3 → F′ = 4 transition of 85Rb atoms. Moreover, the Raman sideband and the repumping laser are generated by a phase modulator, and it can generate different laser frequencies to meet the requirements of a typical atom interferometer. Additional sidebands in the Raman beam produced from the phase modulator are optimized and reduced, allowing us to observe atom interference with a free evolution time of 320 ms. The control unit including the laser system has been integrated into a box with a volume of 1.5 m × 0.6 m × 0.6 m, and the weight of which is only 150 kg. Using this compact optical scheme, our atomic gravimeter has achieved a sensitivity of 53 μGal/Hz1/2 and a resolution of better than 1 μGal (1 μGal = 1 × 10−8 m/s2) in an integration time of 3000 s.
We discuss the characterization and specifications of a home-built external cavity diode laser system that is suitable for frequency-domain cold-atom velocimetry and measurements of gravitational acceleration. The laser system is frequency stabilized using a modulation-free technique that lowers the temperature of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) in comparison with a MOT realized using a laser that relies on lock-in spectroscopy. The laser system also incorporates a feedback loop involving an acousto-optic modulator for intensity stabilization, which reduces the effect of low frequency vibrations. By integrating this laser with a home-built, dual-output radio frequency synthesizer, we are able to derive two laser beams with a precisely controlled relative detuning for frequency domain interferometry using laser-cooled atoms. The detuning can range from the mHz to the MHz level with a stability of 10 μHz.
A compact and robust laser system is essential for mobile atom interferometers. Phase modulation can provide the two necessary phase-coherent frequencies without sophisticated phase-locking between two different lasers. However, the additional laser frequencies generated can perturb the atom interferometer. In this article, we report on a novel method to produce a single high-power laser beam composed of two phase-coherent sidebands without the perturbing carrier mode. Light from a diode laser is phase-modulated by using a fiber-coupled electro-optic modulator driven at 3.4 GHz and passes through a Fabry-Perot cavity with a 6.8 GHz free spectral range. The cavity filters the carrier mode to leave the two first-order sidebands for the two-photon Raman transition between the two hyperfine ground states of 87 Rb. The laser beam is then fed to a single tapered amplifier, and the two sidebands are both amplified without mode competition. The phase noise is lower than that of a state-of-the-art optically phase-locked external-cavity diode laser (−135 dBrad 2 /Hz at 10 kHz) at frequencies above 10 Hz. This technique can be used in all-fiber-based laser systems for future mobile atom interferometers.
The technology of generating Raman laser is not only an important research content in the field of quantum precision measurement, but also a core technology of quantum inertial sensors such as cold atom gravimeter, gyroscope. For 87Rb atoms, two 780-nm lasers with a frequency difference of 6.834 GHz and a stable phase are needed to generate Raman light. Raman lasers can be generated by optical phase-locked loops of two 780-nm narrow linewidth external cavity tunable semiconductor lasers (ECDL). But the system thus developed is complicated in structure and very poor in environmental adaptability. The other method to generate Raman laser is based on intracavity 1560-nm laser with frequency doubling and electro-optic modulation technology. This system is simple in structure and strong in environmental adaptability, but it will introduce sideband effects and cannot achieve phase lock due to the limit by the linewidth and feedback bandwidth performance of the laser. In view of this, based on two new 1560-nm external cavity lasers and a home-made phase-locked circuit, in this paper the phase lock of the laser is achieved, and a Raman laser with low phase noise is obtained. The phase noise of beat note signal is as low as –95 dBc/Hz at the Fourier frequency in a range from 1 kHz to 10 kHz. A comparison of this system with the phase-locked performance of the 780-nm dual laser and the hybrid dual laser shows that this scheme has a slight advantage. In addition, the effect of the phase-locking performance on the phase noise of the cold atom interferometer through the method of piecewise integration is analyzed in this work. The experimental results given in this work provide a scheme for developing a miniaturized Raman optical system suitable for external fields.
We produced two Raman-laser beams with a frequency offset of 6.834GHz by injection-locking of a master diode-laser to a slave diode-laser. The master laser was phase-modulated at 6.834 GHz with an Electro-Optic Modulator and then injected into the slave laser that was oscillating around one of the side-bands. The relative linewidth of the two lasers was less than 1 Hz. Utilizing these laser beams, we realized the coherent manipulation of atomic wave packets in a Mach-Zehnder type atom interferometry.