PRECISION PHOTONIC OSCILLATOR AND METHOD FOR GENERATING ULTRA-STABLE FREQUENCY REFERENCE USING TWO-PHOTON RUBIDIUM TRANSITION

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To generate an ultra-stable frequency reference using a two-photon rubidium transition.SOLUTION: A cavity-stabilized reference laser 112 comprising a laser source 102 is locked to a stabilized cavity. A rubidium cell 108 is interrogated by a stabilized laser output to cause at least a two-photon rubidium transition, and a detector 110 may detect fluorescence resulting from spontaneous decay of the upper state rubidium transition. The output of the detector is provided at a wavelength of the fluorescence to lock the cavity-stabilized reference laser to generate a stabilized laser output. A frequency comb stabilizer 114 is locked to the stabilized laser output to generate a super-continuum 115 of optical wavelengths for use in generating an ultra-stable frequency reference.