High resolution spectroscopy with a femtosecond laser frequency comb

Published

July 1, 2005

Author(s)

Vladislav Gerginov, C E. Tanner, Scott Diddams, A Bartels, Leo W. Hollberg

Abstract

The output of a mode-locked femtosecond-laser is used for high resolution single-photon spectroscopy of ^133}Cs in an atomic beam. The laser is referenced directly to a stable RF signal from the NIST time-scale. By changing the laser's repetition rate, the cesium D_1 (6s \; ^2S 1⁄2 \rightarrow 6p \; ^2P 1⁄2) and D 2 (6s \; ^2S 1⁄2 \rightarrow 6p \; ^2P 3/2}) transitions are detected with high resolution. The optical frequencies of the D 1 and D 2 transition components are measured with accuracy similar to that obtained with a CW laser. Control of the femtosecond laser repetition rate using the atomic fluorescence is also implemented, thus realizing a simple cesium optical clock.

Citation

Optics Letters

Volume

30

Issue

13

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

atomic clock, atomics spectroscopy, femtosecond laser, optical frequency measurement

Citation

Gerginov, V. , Tanner, C. , Diddams, S. , Bartels, A. and Hollberg, L. (2005), High resolution spectroscopy with a femtosecond laser frequency comb, Optics Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50003 (Accessed October 31, 2024)