Absolute frequency measurement of the magnesium intercombination transition ${}^1{S}_0{\to }^3{P}_1$

Abstract

We report on a frequency measurement of the $(3s^2{)}^1{S}_0\to (3s3p{)}^3{P}_1$ clock transition of ${}^{24}$Mg on a thermal atomic beam. The intercombination transition has been referenced to a portable primary Cs frequency standard with the help of a femtosecond fiber laser frequency comb. The achieved uncertainty is $2.5\times 10^{-12}$ which corresponds to an increase in accuracy of six orders of magnitude compared to previous results. The measured frequency value permits the calculation of several other optical transitions from ${}^1{S}_0$ to the ${}^3{P}_J$-level system for ${}^{24}$Mg, ${}^{25}$Mg and ${}^{26}$Mg. We describe in detail the components of our optical frequency standard like the stabilized spectroscopy laser, the atomic beam apparatus used for Ramsey-Bordé interferometry and the frequency comb generator and discuss the uncertainty contributions to our measurement including the first and second order Doppler effect. An upper limit of $3\times 10^{-13}$ in one second for the short term instability of our optical frequency standard was determined by comparison with a GPS disciplined quartz oscillator.

8 pages, 8 figures

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