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

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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 21, 2025)