Advances in chip-scale atomic frequency references at NIST

S. Knappe; V. Shah; A. Brannon; V. Gerginov; H. G. Robinson; Z. Popović; L. Hollberg; J. Kitching

doi:10.1117/12.735024

12 September 2007 Advances in chip-scale atomic frequency references at NIST

S. Knappe, V. Shah, A. Brannon, V. Gerginov, H. G. Robinson, Z. Popović, L. Hollberg, J. Kitching

Proceedings Volume 6673, Time and Frequency Metrology; 667307 (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.735024
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Coherent population trapping (CPT) resonances usually exhibit contrasts below 10% when interrogated with frequency modulated lasers. We discuss a relatively simple way to increase the resonance contrast to nearly 100% generating an additional light field through a nonlinear four-wave mixing interaction in the atomic vapor.¹ A similar method can also be used to create a beat signal at the CPT resonance frequency that can injection-lock a low-power microwave oscillator at 3.4 GHz directly to the atomic resonance.² This could lead to chip-scale atomic clocks (CSACs) with improved performance. Furthermore, we introduce a miniature microfabricated saturated absorption spectrometer³ that produces a signal for locking a laser frequency to optical transitions in alkali atoms. The Rb absorption spectra are comparable to signals obtained with standard table-top setups, although the rubidium vapor cell has an interior volume of only 1 mm³ and the volume of the entire spectrometer is around 0.1 cm³.

Citation Download Citation

S. Knappe, V. Shah, A. Brannon, V. Gerginov, H. G. Robinson, Z. Popović, L. Hollberg, and J. Kitching "Advances in chip-scale atomic frequency references at NIST", Proc. SPIE 6673, Time and Frequency Metrology, 667307 (12 September 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.735024

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