Laser stabilization at 1536 nm using regenerative spectral hole burning

Abstract

Laser frequency stabilization giving a 500-Hz Allan deviation for a 2-ms integration time with drift reduced to 7 kHz/min over several minutes was achieved at 1536 nm in the optical communication band. A continuously regenerated spectral hole in the inhomogeneously broadened 4 I 15/2 (1)→ 4 I 13/2 (1) optical absorption of an Er 3ϩ :Y 2 SiO 5 crystal was used as the short-term frequency reference, while a variation on the locking technique allowed simultaneous use of the inhomogeneously broadened absorption line as a long-term reference. The reported frequency stability was achieved without vibration isolation. Spectral hole burning frequency stabilization provides ideal laser sources for high-resolution spectroscopy, real-time optical signal processing, and a range of applications requiring ultra-narrow-band light sources or coherent detection; the time scale for stability and the compatibility with spectral hole burning devices make this technique complementary to other frequency references for laser stabilization.

Photon‐echo quantum memory in solid state systems

“…[113]) and fibre optics amplifiers [114,115], but more recently also for laser stabilization to programmable frequency standards [116][117][118][119][120][121][122], and radio frequency analyzers [123][124][125]. These studies, together with extensive fundamental investigations (see [84,126] and contributions by G. Liu and Y. C. Sun in [85]), have resulted in broad understanding of interactions in RE solids.…”

Investigations of optical coherence properties in an erbium-doped silicate fiber for quantum state storage

“…However, large optical depths and long coherence times are difficult to obtain simultaneously. Although coherence times longer than a few ms have been observed 13 , these demonstrations normally rely on weakly doped crystals in order to reduce RE ion-ion interactions. Typical absorption coefficients in weakly doped bulk crystals are of the order of 1-10 cm −1 .…”

Laser-Frequency Stabilization Based on Steady-State Spectral-Hole Burning inEu3+∶Y2SiO5Cook1, Rosenband2, Leibrandt3 2015Phys. Rev. Lett.481480View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…Higher stability might be possible by the method of spectral-hole burning (SHB) [14][15][16], where a narrow optical transition of rare-earth ions doped into a cryogenically cooled crystal is used as the frequency reference. Strains in the crystalline host inhomogenously broaden the narrow absorption line by several gigahertz.…”