Intra-Cavity Frequency-Doubled VECSEL System for Narrow Linewidth Rydberg EIT Spectroscopy

Abstract

Vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) augmented by intra-cavity nonlinear optical frequency conversion have emerged as an attractive light source of ultraviolet to visible light for demanding scientific applications, relative to other laser technologies. They offer high power, low phase noise, wide frequency tunability, and excellent beam quality in a simple and inexpensive system architecture. Here, we characterize the frequency stability of an intra-cavity frequency-doubled VECSEL with 690 mW of output power at 475 nm using the delayed self-heterodyne technique and direct comparison with a commercial external-cavity diode laser (ECDL). We measure the fundamental's Lorentzian linewidth to be $2\pi \times 5.3(2)$ kHz, and the total linewidth to be $2\pi \times 23(2)$ kHz. In addition, we perform Rydberg-state spectroscopy via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), observing narrow 3.5 MHz full-width half-maximum EIT. By doing so, we demonstrate that intra-cavity frequency-doubled VECSELs can perform precision spectroscopy at the MHz level, and are a promising tool for contemporary, and future, quantum technologies.

13 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Programmable Quantum Simulations of Spin Systems with Trapped Ions
• Waveguide-coupled Rydberg spectrum analyzer from 0 to 20 GHz
• Assessment of Rydberg Atoms for Wideband Electric Field Sensing
• Optimal Atomic Quantum Sensing using EIT Readout
• Watt-level blue light for precision spectroscopy, laser cooling and trapping of strontium and cadmium atoms

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Self-injection-locked optical parametric oscillator based on microcombs
• VECSEL systems for quantum information processing with trapped beryllium ions