High-performance, compact optical standard

Published

September 15, 2021

Author(s)

Zachary Newman, Vincent N. Maurice, Tara Fortier, Connor Fredrick, Scott Diddams, John Kitching, Matthew Hummon

Abstract

We describe a high-performance, compact optical frequency standard based on a microfabricated Rb vapor cell and a low-noise, external cavity diode laser operating on the Rb two-photon transition at 778 nm. The optical standard achieves an instability of 1.8×10−13−1/2 for times less than 100 s and a flicker noise floor of 1×10−14 out to 6000 s. At long integration times, the instability is limited by variations in optical probe power and the ac Stark shift. The retrace was measured to 5.7×10−13 after 30 h of dormancy. Such a simple, yet high-performance optical standard could be suitable as an accurate realization of the meter or, if coupled with an optical frequency comb, as a compact atomic clock comparable to a hydrogen maser.

Citation

Optics Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.435603

Local Download

Keywords

optical clock, spectroscopy, compact atomic clock, MEMS vapor cell, chip-scale

Citation

Newman, Z. , Maurice, V. , Fortier, T. , Fredrick, C. , Diddams, S. , Kitching, J. and Hummon, M. (2021), High-performance, compact optical standard, Optics Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.435603, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=931802 (Accessed October 20, 2025)