Compact laser system for a laser-cooled ytterbium ion microwave frequency standard

Abstract

The development of a transportable microwave frequency standard based on the ground-state transition of ${}^{171}\mathrm{Y}{\mathrm{b}}^{+}$ at ~12.6 GHz requires a compact laser system for cooling the ions, clearing out of long-lived states and also for photoionisation. In this paper, we describe the development of a suitable compact laser system based on a 6U height rack-mounted arrangement with overall dimensions $260\times 194\times 335$ mm. Laser outputs at 369 nm (for cooling), 399 nm (photoionisation), 935 nm (repumping) and 760 nm (state clearout) are combined in a fiber arrangement for delivery to our linear ion trap and we demonstrate this system by cooling of ${}^{171}\mathrm{Y}{\mathrm{b}}^{+}$ ions. Additionally, we demonstrate that the lasers at 935 nm and 760 nm are close in frequency to water vapor and oxygen absorption lines respectively; specifically, at 760 nm, we show that one ${}^{171}\mathrm{Y}{\mathrm{b}}^{+}$ transition is within the pressure broadened profile of an oxygen line. These molecular transitions form convenient wavelength references for the stabilization of lasers for a ${}^{171}\mathrm{Y}{\mathrm{b}}^{+}$ frequency standard.

arXiv comment12 pages, 7 figures. (Fig 3 added since previous submission - now published)

References in corpus (8)

• Frequency ratio of two optical clock transitions in ${}^{171}$Yb${}^{+}$ and constraints on the time-variation of fundamental constants
• Manipulation and Detection of a Trapped Yb+ Ion Hyperfine Qubit
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• Versatile ytterbium ion trap experiment for operation of scalable ion trap chips with motional heating and transition frequency measurements
• A low maintenance Sr optical lattice clock
• Rydberg Electrometry for Optical Lattice Clocks
• Second harmonic generation at 399 nm resonant on the ${}^1{S}_0{-}^1{P}_1$ transition of ytterbium using a periodically poled LiNbO${}_3$ waveguide

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Scalable hyperfine qubit state detection via electron shelving in the ${}^2$D${}_{5/2}$ and ${}^2$F${}_{7/2}$ manifolds in ${}^{171}$Yb${}^{+}$
• Laser-cooled ytterbium ion frequency standard
• Weak dissipation for high fidelity qubit state preparation and measurement
• Precision Characterization of the ${}^2$D${}_{5/2}$ State and Quadratic Zeeman Coefficient in ${}^{171}$Yb${}^{+}$
• Determination of hyperfine splittings and Landé $g_J$ factors of $5s{}^2{S}_{1/2}$ and $5p{}^2{P}_{1/2,3/2}$ states of ${}^{111,113}$Cd${}^{+}$ for a microwave frequency standard
• Evidence of Two-Source King Plot Nonlinearity in Spectroscopic Search for New Boson