Chinese Optics Letters, Volume. 9, Issue 4, 041406(2011)

A robust method for frequency stabilization of 556-nm laser operating at the intercombination transition of ytterbium

Zhuanxian Xiong1,2, Yun Long1,2, Huixing Xiao1,2, Xi Zhang1,2, Lingxiang He1, and Baolong Lv1
Author Affiliations
  • 1State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
  • 2Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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    A frequency-stabilized 556-nm laser is an essential tool for experimental studies associated with 1S0-3P1 intercombination transition of ytterbium (Yb) atoms. A 556-nm laser light using a single-pass second harmonic generation (SHG) is obtained in a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO3 (PPLN) crystal pumped by a fiber laser at 1111.6 nm. A robust frequency stabilization method which facilitates the control of laser frequency with an accuracy better than the natural linewidth (187 kHz) of the intercombination line is developed. The short-term frequency jitter is reduced to less than 100 kHz by locking the laser to a home-made reference cavity. A slow frequency drift is sensed by the 556-nm fluorescence signal of an Yb atomic beam excited by one probe beam and is reduced to less than 50-kHz by a computer-controlled servo system. The laser can be stably locked for more than 5 h. This frequency stabilization method can be extended to other alkaline-earth-like atoms with similar weak intercombination lines.

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    Zhuanxian Xiong, Yun Long, Huixing Xiao, Xi Zhang, Lingxiang He, Baolong Lv, "A robust method for frequency stabilization of 556-nm laser operating at the intercombination transition of ytterbium," Chin. Opt. Lett. 9, 041406 (2011)

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    Paper Information

    Category: Lasers and Laser Optics

    Received: Nov. 10, 2010

    Accepted: Dec. 14, 2010

    Published Online: Mar. 18, 2011

    The Author Email:

    DOI:10.3788/COL201109.041406

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