Frequency reproducibility of an iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm

• Published in: Optics communications 2004-05, Vol.235 (4), p.377-385
• Main Authors: Hong, Feng-Lei, Ishikawa, Jun, Zhang, Yun, Guo, Ruixiang, Onae, Atsushi, Matsumoto, Hirokazu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical applications; Efficiency, stability, gain, and other operational parameters; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Laser frequency stabilization; Laser optical systems: design and operation; Metrological applications; Metrology; Metrology, measurements and laboratory procedures; Molecular iodine; Nd:YAG laser; Optical frequency measurement; Optical frequency standard; Optics; Physics; Units and standards
• ISSN: 0030-4018; 1873-0310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2004.02.044

We have established an ensemble of iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG lasers to verify the frequency reproducibility of the laser. The stability, repeatability and several systematic shifts of the laser frequency are investigated by heterodyne beating of the lasers. The frequency dispersion of the ensemble of lasers is evaluated to be 0.5 kHz (corresponding to a relative frequency uncertainty of 8 × 10 −13). The absolute frequency of one of the lasers (named as Y3) is measured to be 563 260 223 507 897(58) Hz using a femtosecond optical comb, when the laser was stabilized on the a 10 component of the R(56)32-0 transition of 127I 2 for a cold-finger temperature of −10 °C. This group of lasers, including one transportable laser, forms an ensemble of optical frequency standards, which serves for many applications such as international comparisons, optical frequency measurements, frequency calibration services and high-resolution spectroscopy.