Active optical frequency standard using sequential coupling of atomic ensembles

Abstract

Recently, several theoretical proposals adressed the generation of an active optical frequency standard based on atomic ensembles trapped in an optical lattice potential inside an optical resonator. Using atoms with a narrow linewidth transition and population inversion together with a "bad" cavity allows to the realize the superradiant photon emission regime. These schemes reduce the influence of mechanical or thermal vibrations of the cavity mirrors on the emitted optical frequency, overcoming current limitation in passive optical standards. The coherence time of the emitted light is ultimately limited by the lifetime of the atoms in the optical lattice potential. Therefore these schemes would produce one light pulse per atomic ensemble without a phase relation between pulses. Here we study how phase coherence between pulses can be maintained by using several inverted atomic ensenbles, introduced into the cavity sequentially by means of a transport mechanism. We simulate the light emission process using the Heisenberg-Langevin approach and study the frequency noise of the intracavity field.

9 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Prospects for a mHz-linewidth laser
• Colloquium: Physics of optical lattice clocks
• Steady-state superradiance with alkaline earth atoms
• Hyperfine quenching of the metastable ${}^3{P}_{0,2}$ states in divalent atoms
• Long Distance Transport of Ultracold Atoms using a 1D optical lattice
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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Lasing on a narrow transition in a cold thermal strontium ensemble
• Active Faraday optical frequency standards
• Dynamics of bad-cavity enhanced interaction with cold Sr atoms for laser stabilization
• Stability analysis for bad cavity lasers using inhomogeneously broadened spin-1/2 atoms as gain medium
• Prospects for a bad cavity laser using a large ion crystal
• Cavity-immune features in the spectra of superradiant crossover laser pulses
• Continuous multi-step pumping of the optical clock transition in alkaline-earth atoms with minimal perturbation
• Prospects of a superradiant laser based on a thermal or guided beam of Sr-88
• Ultimate stability of active optical frequency standards
• Photoionization cross sections of ultracold ${}^{88}$Sr in ${}^1$P${}_1$ and ${}^3$S${}_1$ states at 390 nm and the resulting blue-detuned magic wavelength optical lattice clock constraints
• Superradiant active optical atomic clocks: motivations and current challenges