Autonomous frequency stabilization of two extended cavity diode lasers at the potassium wavelength on a sounding rocket

Abstract

We have developed, assembled, and flight-proven a stable, compact, and autonomous extended cavity diode laser (ECDL) system designed for atomic physics experiments in space. To that end, two micro-integrated ECDLs at 766.7 nm were frequency stabilized during a sounding rocket flight by means of frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS) of 39^K and offset locking techniques based on the beat note of the two ECDLs. The frequency stabilization as well as additional hard- and software to test hot redundancy mechanisms were implemented as part of a state-machine, which controlled the experiment completely autonomously throughout the entire flight mission.

10 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• ZERODUR based optical systems for quantum gas experiments in space