Direct frequency-comb-driven Raman transitions in the terahertz range

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of a femtosecond frequency comb to coherently drive stimulated Raman transitions between terahertz-spaced atomic energy levels. More specifically, we address the $3d{}^2{D}_{3/2}$ and $3d{}^2{D}_{5/2}$ fine structure levels of a single trapped ${}^{40}$Ca${}^{+}$ ion and spectroscopically resolve the transition frequency to be ${\nu }_D=1,819,599,021,534\pm 8$ Hz. The achieved accuracy is nearly a factor of five better than the previous best Raman spectroscopy, and is currently limited by the stability of our atomic clock reference. Furthermore, the population dynamics of frequency-comb-driven Raman transitions can be fully predicted from the spectral properties of the frequency comb, and Rabi oscillations with a contrast of 99.3(6)\% and millisecond coherence time has been achieved. Importantly, the technique can be easily generalized to transitions in the sub-kHz to tens of THz range and should be applicable for driving, e.g., spin-resolved rovibrational transitions in molecules and hyperfine transitions in highly charged ions.

9 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Optical pumping and vibrational cooling of molecules
• Preparation and coherent manipulation of pure quantum states of a single molecular ion
• Probing new light force-mediators by isotope shift spectroscopy
• Non-destructive state detection for quantum logic spectroscopy of molecular ions
• Precise Control of Molecular Dynamics with a Femtosecond Frequency Comb - A Weak Field Route to Strong Field Coherent Control
• Piecewise adiabatic population transfer in a molecule via a wave packet
• Direct frequency comb spectroscopy of trapped ions
• Direct frequency comb laser cooling and trapping

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Frequency comb spectroscopy
• Precision frequency-comb terahertz spectroscopy on pure quantum states of a single molecular ion
• Improved isotope-shift-based bounds on bosons beyond the Standard Model through measurements of the ${}^2$D${}_{3/2}{-}^2$D${}_{5/2}$ interval in Ca${}^{+}$
• Initialization of quantum simulators by sympathetic cooling
• An atom interferometer driven by a picosecond frequency comb
• Versatile control of ${}^9$Be${}^{+}$ ions using a spectrally tailored UV frequency comb
• Phase transfer between three visible lasers for coherent population trapping
• Experimental Demonstration of a Terahertz Frequency Reference based on Coherent Population Trapping
• Prospect for precision quantum logic spectroscopy of vibrational overtone transitions in molecular oxygen ions
• Optical frequency analysis on dark state of a single trapped ion
• Radio frequency polarization modulation based on an optical frequency comb