All-optical microwave frequency standard: a proposal

A simple method to produce a clock transition with purely optical means by modulated pumping is described. The field-independent ground state resonance of /sup 87/Rb atoms using sinusoidal modulation of the injection current of an AlGaAs laser diode emitting at 780 nm (FM modulation) is observed. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement 1993-04, Vol.42 (2), p.640-649
Main Authors: Cyr, N., Tetu, M., Breton, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atom optics
Clocks
Exact sciences and technology
Frequency modulation
Measurements common to several branches of physics and astronomy
Metrology, measurements and laboratory procedures
Microwave frequencies
Optical buffering
Optical modulation
Optical pumping
Physics
Proposals
Resonance
Stimulated emission
Time and frequency
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Summary:A simple method to produce a clock transition with purely optical means by modulated pumping is described. The field-independent ground state resonance of /sup 87/Rb atoms using sinusoidal modulation of the injection current of an AlGaAs laser diode emitting at 780 nm (FM modulation) is observed. The 6.835 GHz resonance with a subharmonic modulation frequency of 1.139 GHz is detected. A high-contrast resonance peak is observed and a condition for zero light shift is found. The linewidth is 3 kHz (at 6.835 GHz) in this preliminary experiment, due to the small size of the light beam ( approximately 2 mm diameter) and the low buffer gas pressure (680 Pa) that was used. A theoretical model that explains the main features of the experiment is described.< >
ISSN:0018-9456
1557-9662
DOI:10.1109/19.278645