Frequency Measurement of an Ar+ Laser Stabilized on Narrow Lines of Molecular Iodine at 501.7 nm

A spectrometer for ultra high-resolution spectroscopy of molecular iodine at wave length 501.7 nm, near the dissociation limit is described. Line shapes about 30 kHz wide (HWHM) were obtained using saturation spectroscopy in a pumped cell. The frequency of an Ar+ laser was locked to a hyperfine component of the R(26)62-0 transition and the first absolute frequency measurement of this line is reported

Frequency stability transfer by optical injection locking into a semiconductor frequency comb

International audienc

Gaz moléculaires confinés en cellules minces micrométriques

International audienc

Probing molecules in gas cells of subwavelength thickness with high frequency resolution

Abstract Miniaturizing and integrating atomic vapor cells is widely investigated for the purposes of fundamental measurements and technological applications such as quantum sensing. Extending such platforms to the realm of molecular physics is a fascinating prospect that paves the way for compact frequency metrology as well as for exploring light-matter interactions with complex quantum objects. Here, we perform molecular rovibrational spectroscopy in a thin-cell of micrometric thickness, comparable to excitation wavelengths. We operate the cell in two distinct regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, probing ν1 + ν3 resonances of acetylene at 1.530 µm, within the telecommunications wavelength range, as well as the ν3 and ν2 resonances of SF6 and NH3 respectively, in the mid-infrared fingerprint region around 10.55 µm. Thin-cell confinement allows linear sub-Doppler transmission spectroscopy due to the coherent Dicke narrowing effect, here demonstrated for molecular rovibrations. Our experiment can find applications extending to the fields of compact molecular frequency references, atmospheric physics or fundamental precision measurements