Optical frequency standards with the reference to a narrow electronic transition of a laser-cooled collection of neutral atomic particles are becoming essential tools of research in modern precision physics experiments. In the core of a building block of an optical frequency standard is the optical continuous wave laser that has a good spectral purity of the emitted light. Such a stable optical oscillator is highly desirable in high resolution spectroscopy, if it emits in a good quality beam at a short visible wavelength. This Master thesis explores efficient techniques for building such an optical frequency source intended for use in the cooling and trapping of Calcium atoms scheme. The strong dipole transition at the blue wavelength in the atomic Calcium is needed to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms by nearly six orders of magnitude. A further reduction in the thermal energy of the laser cooled atoms is required to locate with ultra-high precision the 400 Hz narrow clock transition of the stable 40Ca isotope. The experimental methods that achieve this and approach sub-microkelvin temperature of the laser cooled bosonic isotopes of alkaline earths are inspected. The blue laser with a uniform intensity distribution in the beam is useful to maintain the trapped number of cold atoms during these experiments. The spectroscopic properties of the relative transitions in Calcium atom are also reviewed following relevant publications in the area. The constructed blue laser can be used as a primary wavelength source in the lasers network for cooling and trapping of Calcium atoms. These experiments will constitute part of the project to build an optical atom clock referenced to 40Ca narrow linewidth transition. The blue laser is constructed by generating second harmonic in a Potassium Niobate crystal, which is temperature controlled to use a type-I noncritical phase-matching of the optical nonlinear process. The power of the intracavity-generated second harmonic depends on the resonance properties of the optical resonator where this nonlinear crystal is placed. The study is aimed at characterising the designed optical resonator and the experimental parameters that describe it. The formula is derived that relates the resonance power enhancement coefficient with finesse and the power coupling contrast of a passive optical cavity. The obtained relationship is verfied during the experiments. The produced efficiency of the intracavity second harmonic generation is approx. 0.0023 mWblue/(mWred)2. The research work also examines the noise characteristics of the infrared diode laser that is used as a pump source for the intracavity generated second harmonic and determines the spectroscopic precision of the produced blue light. The frequency locking experiment is analysed using the unbalanced scheme of the polarisation stabilisation technique. The designed optical buildup cavity became a part of the unbalanced frequency discriminator in such a scheme. The results demonstrate high gain of frequency noise suppression of the stabilised laser. The unbalanced arrangement of the H}ansch-Couillaud technique has been possible due to a very low amplitude noise of semiconductor lasers.
Optical frequency standards with the reference to a narrow electronic transition of a laser-cooled collection of neutral atomic particles are becoming essential tools of research in modern precision physics experiments. In the core of a building block of an optical frequency standard is the optical continuous wave laser that has a good spectral purity of the emitted light. Such a stable optical oscillator is highly desirable in high resolution spectroscopy, if it emits in a good quality beam at a short visible wavelength. This Master thesis explores efficient techniques for building such an optical frequency source intended for use in the cooling and trapping of Calcium atoms scheme. The strong dipole transition at the blue wavelength in the atomic Calcium is needed to reduce the kinetic energy of atoms by nearly six orders of magnitude. A further reduction in the thermal energy of the laser cooled atoms is required to locate with ultra-high precision the 400 Hz narrow clock transition of the stable 40Ca isotope. The experimental methods that achieve this and approach sub-microkelvin temperature of the laser cooled bosonic isotopes of alkaline earths are inspected. The blue laser with a uniform intensity distribution in the beam is useful to maintain the trapped number of cold atoms during these experiments. The spectroscopic properties of the relative transitions in Calcium atom are also reviewed following relevant publications in the area. The constructed blue laser can be used as a primary wavelength source in the lasers network for cooling and trapping of Calcium atoms. These experiments will constitute part of the project to build an optical atom clock referenced to 40Ca narrow linewidth transition. The blue laser is constructed by generating second harmonic in a Potassium Niobate crystal, which is temperature controlled to use a type-I noncritical phase-matching of the optical nonlinear process. The power of the intracavity-generated second harmonic depends on the resonance properties of the optical resonator where this nonlinear crystal is placed. The study is aimed at characterising the designed optical resonator and the experimental parameters that describe it. The formula is derived that relates the resonance power enhancement coefficient with finesse and the power coupling contrast of a passive optical cavity. The obtained relationship is verfied during the experiments. The produced efficiency of the intracavity second harmonic generation is approx. 0.0023 mWblue/(mWred)2. The research work also examines the noise characteristics of the infrared diode laser that is used as a pump source for the intracavity generated second harmonic and determines the spectroscopic precision of the produced blue light. The frequency locking experiment is analysed using the unbalanced scheme of the polarisation stabilisation technique. The designed optical buildup cavity became a part of the unbalanced frequency discriminator in such a scheme. The results demonstrate high gain of frequency noise suppression of the stabilised laser. The unbalanced arrangement of the H}ansch-Couillaud technique has been possible due to a very low amplitude noise of semiconductor lasers.
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.
A frequency-tunable source of squeezed light would allow investigations of the atom-field interaction in a regime where fundamental new phenomena have been predicted.1 There are also opportunities for spectroscopy with sensitivity beyond the shot-noise limit. Toward these objectives, in our experiment we employ a single-frequency Ti-sapphire laser with tuning optimized around 852 nm (cesium resonance transition). The infrared output of the laser is frequency doubled in an external buildup cavity with a KNbO3 crystal as the nonlinear element. Efficient doubling provides 0.65 W of tunable blue output for 1.35 W of infrared input. This blue output is then used to pump an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) containing a second KNbO3 crystal for downconversion back to the infrared. The high power of the blue pump that we have achieved and the large nonlinearity of KNbO3 allows us to employ an OPO that is resonant only for the subharmonic infrared light. This design facilitates tuning of the OPO compared with the case in which the blue pump and the infrared are both resonant. The doubling cavity, OPO, and laser itself are locked relative to a stable reference cavity by an rf sideband technique, thus providing the possibility for tunability of the system with a single knob.
Research on the development of the optical frequency standard based on trapped and cold 40 Ca + with the 4s 2 S 1/2 -3d 2 D 5/2 clock transition at 729 nm is reported. A single calcium ion was trapped and laser cooled in the Paul trap and stay in trap for more than 15 days. The linewidth of a 729 nm laser was reduced to less than 10 Hz by locking to a cavity for longer than 50 hours uninterruptedly. The overall systematic uncertainty of the clock transition has been characterized to be better than 6.5×10 −16 . The absolute frequency of the clock transition was measured at 10 −15 level using an optical frequency comb referenced to a Hydrogen maser, which was calibrated to the SI second through the global positioning system (GPS). The frequency value was 411042129776393.0(1.6) Hz after the correction of the systematic shifts.
With the development of the technologies in the lasers and the manipulation of cold atoms, the high precision optical frequency standards have been extensively studied and built in recent years. These high precision frequency standards may play an important role in establishing the new time reference, promoting the researches in the fundamental fields, fulfilling the national strategic needs, etc. In this paper, the research progress of high accuracy 40Ca+ optical frequency standard in Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics (WIPM) of Chinese Academy of Sciences is presented. A new ULE super cavity is adopted for stabilizing the frequency of 729 nm clock laser, and the stability of the laser is improved now to 2×10-15 in a duration of 1-100 s. By controlling the external fields and other environmental influences, especially suppressing the micromotion effects of the trapped ion, the uncertainty of the optical frequency standard based on a single 40Ca+ is reduced to 5.5×10-17. The stability of 5×10-17 in a duration of 20000 s is achieved via the comparison between two 40Ca+ optical frequency standards. Several precision measurement experiments are performed, based on the high precision 40Ca+ optical frequency standard. The absolute value of the clock transition frequency of the 40Ca+ optical frequency standard is measured second time, using an optical comb referenced to a hydrogen maser which is calibrated via GPS referenced to UTC (NIM)) using the precise point positioning data-processing technique. The frequency offset of UTC (NIM) relative to the SI second can be evaluated through BIPM circular-T reports, and the newly measured value of m 4s 2S1/2-3m d 2D5/2 transition is adopted by CCTF-20, thus updating the recommended value of 40Ca+ optical clock transition. Besides the absolute frequency measurement, the magic wavelengths of 40Ca+ optical clock transition are measured precisely, and this work is a milestone for establishing all-optical trapped-ion clocks. The lifetime of the m 3 d 2D3/2 and m 3 d 2D5/2 state in 40Ca+ are precisely measured, too. The work mentioned above contributes to the researches of the precision measurements based on cold atomic systems.
Accurate time keeping is critical to the function and advancement of many human endeavours. Atomic clocks based on a microwave transition in atomic Cs have served as primary frequency standards to realise the SI second since their formal adoption in 1967. State-of-the-art, laser cooled, Cs fountains now routinely operate with fractional frequency uncertainties below the 10⁻¹⁵ level in laboratories throughout the world. Over the last decade, efforts to build frequency standards based on optical transitions have come to fruition and potential inaccuracies below the 10⁻¹⁷ level have been demonstrated. Such standards point to the future of time keeping and much development is being pursued to realise the potential of these 'next generation' optical clocks. One such approach, on which this work focusses, relies on a 'magic' wavelength optical lattice trap to provide (almost) Doppler- and recoil-free confinement of atoms during clock interrogation. At this 'magic' wavelength, light induced perturbation of the clock states is equal and so cancels precisely. This thesis describes the design and implementation of an optical lattice frequency standard apparatus based on 88Sr held in a 1D optical lattice. A review of the development of atomic frequency metrology is given from a historical viewpoint and the technology and limitations of current methods discussed. To tackle the blackbody radiation shift, which currently presents the greatest limitation to the Sr lattice clock, imposing at the 10⁻¹⁶ level, a scheme to measure the blackbody radiation shift coefficient at the 10⁻¹⁷ level is developed. Techniques to laser cool and trap atomic strontium are described and the implementation detailed. All laser systems required for clock operation are described including the design and implementation of extended-cavity diode lasers for precision spectroscopy. Details relevant to the eventual operation of the apparatus are discussed.
A laser system for Doppler cooling of ytterbium ion on the transition in a single-ion optical frequency standard is developed. The second harmonic of a semiconductor laser with a wavelength of is used for cooling. The laser frequency is doubled in a nonlinear BiBO crystal embedded in a ring resonator, which also serves as a reference for laser frequency stabilisation. Second-harmonic power of is generated at a wavelength of . Diode laser radiation is modulated by an electro-optic modulator at to generate a sideband exciting the hyperfine component of the cooling transition that is not excited by resonant cooling light. The sideband relative intensity of a few percent proved to be sufficient to reduce the ion dwelling time in the state to less than and increase the cooling efficiency.