Evaluation of the noise properties of a dual-frequency VECSEL for compact Cs atomic clocks (Poster)

Paul Dumont (1) , Jean-Marie Danet (2) , D Holleville (2) , S Guerandel (2) , G Baili (3) , L Morvan (3) , G Pillet (3) , D Dolfi (3) , I Gozhyk (1, 4) , G Beaudoin (4) , I Sagnes (4) , Patrick Georges (1) , Gaëlle Lucas-Leclin (1)

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Lasers
2 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
3 Thales Research and Technology [Palaiseau]
4 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures

We evaluate a dual-frequency and dual-polarization optically-pumped semiconductor laser emitting at 852 nm as a new laser source for compact atomic clocks based on the coherent population trapping (CPT) technique. The frequency difference between the laser modes is tunable to 9.2 GHz corresponding to the ground state hyperfine-split of Cs. Impact of the laser noise has been investigated. Laser relative intensity noise is limited by the pump-RIN transfer to a level of-110 dB/Hz. Laser frequency noise shows excess mechanical and technical noise resulting in a laser linewidth of 1 MHz at 1 s in lock operation. The noise performance and spectral properties of the laser are already adequate to realize CPT experiments and should result in Allan standard-deviation of the clock below 1 × 10-12 at 1 second.

Keywords: Dual-frequency laser; Vertical External Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers; Laser Noise; Atomic Clocks

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]; Optics / Photonic

Paul Dumont, Jean-Marie Danet, D Holleville, S Guerandel, G Baili, et al.. Evaluation of the noise properties of a dual-frequency VECSEL for compact Cs atomic clocks (Poster). Photonics West LASE, Conference on Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) V , Feb 2015, San Francisco, United States. Proc. SPIE, 9349, pp.93490S, 2015, ⟨10.1117/12.2077663⟩. ⟨hal-01171371⟩