Electro-optic frequency comb Doppler Thermometry

Published

April 1, 2026

Author(s)

Sean Bresler, Erin Adkins, Stephen Eckel, Tobias Herman, David A. Long, Benjamin Reschovsky, Daniel Barker

Abstract

13 Abstract: We demonstrate a Doppler thermometer based on direct comb spectroscopy of an 85Rb vapor with an electro-optic frequency comb. The direct comb Doppler thermometer is 15 accurate to within its approximately 1 K statistical uncertainty. We experimentally compare 16 the direct comb approach with conventional Doppler spectroscopy using a single-frequency, 17 step-scanned laser probe. Our results show that the direct comb spectroscopy approach mitigates 18 transit-induced optical pumping distortion of the atomic lineshape, which is the dominant 19 systematic temperature shift in alkali atom Doppler thermometry. Optical Bloch equation 20 simulations of conventional and direct comb Doppler spectroscopy confirm that the electro-optic 21 comb approach can use higher optical power to reduce statistical noise without optical pumping 22 distortion. Our results indicate that electro-optic comb Doppler thermometry is a promising 23 approach to realizing a primary thermometer with size and measurement rate sufficient for 24 applications including pharmaceutical manufacturing and nuclear waste monitoring.

Citation

Optics Express

Volume

34

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.590664

Local Download

Keywords

Atomic spectroscopy, Electro-optic combs

Citation

Bresler, S. , Adkins, E. , Eckel, S. , Herman, T. , Long, D. , Reschovsky, B. and Barker, D. (2026), Electro-optic frequency comb Doppler Thermometry, Optics Express, [online], https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.590664, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960863 (Accessed May 14, 2026)

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