Terahertz Synthetic FM Triplet for Distortion-Free Stabilization and Lamb-Dip Spectroscopy

Abstract

We demonstrate a distortion-free terahertz frequency stabilization technique using a "synthetic FM triplet" to overcome modulation sideband interference associated with high-density spectral lines in molecular clocks. By applying this method to the rotational transitions of acetonitrile (CH${}_3$CN), we successfully generated clean derivative waveforms free from inter-line interference, achieving a fractional frequency instability of $1\times 10^{-9}$ at an averaging time of $1\mathrm{s}$. Furthermore, we report the observation of Lamb-dips using this high-fidelity approach. Our results establish acetonitrile as a promising candidate for high-agility molecular clocks and provide a robust solution for precision spectroscopy of molecules with complex hyperfine structures.

12 pages, 5 figures