Laser frequency stabilization using selective reflection from a vapor cell with a half-wavelength thickness

Abstract

Abstract:We have experimentally studied the selective reflection spectra of a circularly-polarized laser beam from a sub-micrometric Rb vapor cell with a thickness L around λ/2 (λ = 780 nm being the laser wavelength tuned to the D 2 line) in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field. Based on the results of these studies, we propose a new method for the tunable locking of the diode laser frequency, which does not require frequency modulation nor complex electronics. The experimental realization of the technique has demonstrated its effectiveness and its competitiveness with the known DAVVL-type methods. Response of the locked system to controlled laser diode temperature changes (upper trace) illustrated by the "anti-correlated" changes of the (feedback-controlled) injection current (lower trace)

Efficient technique for measuring laser frequency stability

“…3, the proposed technique is much more accurate than the one presented in [13]). If needed, the accuracy can be increased by optimization of experimental conditions.…”

“…The idea of improvement is as follows. The efficiency of the frequency lock strongly depends on the slope of the error signal [13]. In a cm-sized cell, such as used with the conventional DAVLL method, the error signal [4,5] is Doppler-broadened.…”

“…A most efficient way to reduce frequency fluctuations is the locking of laser frequency to a reference frequency with an intrinsically high stability, such as an ultrastable high-finesse Fabry-Pérot, or, better, a narrow atomic resonance transition. In the past decades, many different experimental schemes were elaborated for locking DL frequencies to atomic resonance lines, such as saturated absorption [1,2], magneto-optical processes [3], including the technique of dichroic atomic vapor laser locking (DAVLL) [4][5][6][7], transversely-pumped thin cell spectroscopy [8], polarization spectroscopy [9], and selective reflection spectroscopy [10][11][12][13].…”

Selective reflection studies of molecular cesium vapor

“…17 The fact that selective reflection signal originates from a wavelength-scale-thickness-boundary of a dielectric window and resonant atomic vapor, carrying direct information on dispersion and absorption properties of the medium, allows its usage as an essential spectroscopic tool differing in a number of aspects from the conventional absorption spectroscopy (including also relatively narrow width of spectral lines). Among the applications of SR spectroscopy are: studies of interatomic collision mechanisms and determination of the homogeneous width, cross sections of collisions and the shift of resonance lines 11,[18][19][20] , study of the van der Waals interaction of atoms with a dielectric surface [21][22][23] , studies of coherent and magneto-optical processes 20,24-26 , determination of abundances of isotopes in natural atomic vapors 17 , locking a diode laser frequency to atomic resonance lines [27][28][29] , etc.…”

Laser stabilization to an atomic transition using an optically generated dispersive line shape

“…Postal 5086, 58051-900 João Pessoa, PB, Brazil e-mail: martine@otica.ufpb.br optical cooler. 1 For such applications a few simple and reliable techniques were developed [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and allow one to deal with lasers in various long-run experiments. The main idea behind many of these techniques is to generate a dispersive line shape that will produce an error signal.…”