Systematic study of the 87^{87}Sr clock transition in an optical lattice

With ultracold $^{87}$Sr confined in a magic wavelength optical lattice, we present the most precise study (2.8 Hz statistical uncertainty) to-date of the $^1S_0$ - $^3P_0$ optical clock transition with a detailed analysis of systematic shifts (20 Hz uncertainty) in the absolute frequency measurement of 429 228 004 229 867 Hz. The high resolution permits an investigation of the optical lattice motional sideband structure. The local oscillator for this optical atomic clock is a stable diode laser with its Hz-level linewidth characterized across the optical spectrum using a femtosecond frequency comb.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Mounting system for optical frequency reference cavities

A technique for reducing the vibration sensitivity of laser-stabilizing optical reference cavities is based upon an improved design and mounting method for the cavity, wherein the cavity is mounted vertically. It is suspended at one plane, around the spacer cylinder, equidistant from the mirror ends of the cavity. The suspension element is a collar of an extremely low thermal expansion coefficient material, which surrounds the spacer cylinder and contacts it uniformly. Once the collar has been properly located, it is cemented in place so that the spacer cylinder is uniformly supported and does not have to be squeezed at all. The collar also includes a number of cavities partially bored into its lower flat surface, around the axial bore. These cavities are support points, into which mounting base pins will be inserted. Hence the collar is supported at a minimum of three points

Simple and Compact 1-Hz Laser System via an Improved Mounting Configuration of a Reference Cavity

We report an improved mounting configuration for a passive optical cavity used for laser frequency stabilization. The associated reduction of the vibration sensitivity of the effective cavity length has led to a simple and compact reference cavity system for laser stabilization at the level of 1 Hz linewidt

Simple and Compact Hz-Level Linewidth Laser System via Improved Mounting Configuration of a Reference Cavity

We report a simple, robust 1-Hz linewidth laser system enabled by an improved mounting strategy for optical reference cavities used for laser frequency stabilization

High precision modeling at the 10^{-20} level

The requirements for accurate numerical simulation are increasing constantly. Modern high precision physics experiments now exceed the achievable numerical accuracy of standard commercial and scientific simulation tools. One example are optical resonators for which changes in the optical length are now commonly measured to 10^{-15} precision. The achievable measurement accuracy for resonators and cavities is directly influenced by changes in the distances between the optical components. If deformations in the range of 10^{-15} occur, those effects cannot be modeled and analysed any more with standard methods based on double precision data types. New experimental approaches point out that the achievable experimental accuracies may improve down to the level of 10^{-17} in the near future. For the development and improvement of high precision resonators and the analysis of experimental data, new methods have to be developed which enable the needed level of simulation accuracy. Therefore we plan the development of new high precision algorithms for the simulation and modeling of thermo-mechanical effects with an achievable accuracy of 10^{-20}. In this paper we analyse a test case and identify the problems on the way to this goal.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure

Simple piezoelectric-actuated mirror with 180 kHz servo bandwidth

We present a high bandwidth piezoelectric-actuated mirror for length stabilization of an optical cavity. The actuator displays a transfer function with a flat amplitude response and greater than 135$^\circ$ phase margin up to 200 kHz, allowing a 180 kHz unity gain frequency to be achieved in a closed servo loop. To the best of our knowledge, this actuator has achieved the largest servo bandwidth for a piezoelectric transducer (PZT). The actuator should be very useful in a wide variety of applications requiring precision control of optical lengths, including laser frequency stabilization, optical interferometers, and optical communications

Contribution of Thermal Noise to Frequency Stability of Rigid Optical Cavity via Hertz-Linewidth Lasers

We perform detailed studies of state-of-the-art laser stabilization to high finesse optical cavities, revealing fundamental mechanical thermal noise-related length fluctuations. We compare the frequency noise of lasers tightly locked to the resonances of a variety of rigid Fabry-Perot cavities of differing lengths and mirror substrate materials. The results are in agreement with the theoretical model proposed in K. Numata, A. Kemery, and J. Camp [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 250602 (2004)]. The results presented here on the fundamental limits of FP references will impact planning and construction of next generation ultrastable optical cavities