A simple scheme for precise relative frequency stabilization of lasers

We present a simple scheme for tuneable relative frequency stabilization of lasers. A highly sensitive and accurate frequency-to-voltage converter is used to derive an error signal from the beat note between two lasers. We analyze in detail detector noise and drift, modulation detection bandwidth, and cross-talk from power modulation. The results indicate that sub-kHz relative linewidth and a locking point drift on the order of 100 Hz for times scales of 1 h are achievable. The scheme can, therefore, be applied to situations where up to now only optical PLLs could provide sufficient accuracy and precision. To demonstrate its potential for high-resolution, high-precision spectroscopy we lock a diode laser to a fs-frequency comb and find a relative linear drift of 314 Hz during a 2.8 h period

Demonstration of a Transportable 1 Hz-Linewidth Laser

We present the setup and test of a transportable clock laser at 698 nm for a strontium lattice clock. A master-slave diode laser system is stabilized to a rigidly mounted optical reference cavity. The setup was transported by truck over 400 km from Braunschweig to D\"usseldorf, where the cavity-stabilized laser was compared to a stationary clock laser for the interrogation of ytterbium (578 nm). Only minor realignments were necessary after the transport. The lasers were compared by a Ti:Sapphire frequency comb used as a transfer oscillator. The thus generated virtual beat showed a combined linewidth below 1 Hz (at 1156 nm). The transport back to Braunschweig did not degrade the laser performance, as was shown by interrogating the strontium clock transition.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

HDArray: Parallel Array Interface for Distributed Heterogeneous Devices

Heterogeneous clusters with nodes containing one or more accelerators, such as GPUs, have become common. While MPI provides a mechanism and management of interaddress space communication, and OpenCL provides a way to manage computation and communication within a process with access to heterogeneous computational resources, programmers are forced to write hybrid programs that manage the interaction of both of these systems. This paper describes an array programming interface that provides users with automatic or manual distributions of data and work. Using the distribution and information about what data is used and defined by kernels, communication among processes and among devices in a process is performed automatically. The interface provides a unified programming model to the user, thus simplifying program development

Frequency comb-referenced narrow linewidth diode laser system for coherent molecular spectroscopy

We analyze in detail the frequency noise properties of a grating enhanced external cavity diode laser (GEECDL). This system merges two diode laser concepts, the grating stabilized diode laser and the diode laser with resonant optical feedback, thus combining a large tuning range with an excellent short-term frequency stability. We compare the frequency noise spectrum of a GEECDL to that of a grating stabilized diode laser and demonstrate a 10-fold reduction of the frequency noise linear spectral density. The GEECDL is phase locked to a similar laser and to a fs-frequency comb with a servo loop providing an open-loop unity-gain frequency of only 237 kHz, which is a tenth of the bandwidth typically required for grating stabilized diode lasers. We achieve a residual rms phase error as small as 72 mrad (≈ 200 mrad) for stabilization to a similar laser (to the fs-frequency comb). We demonstrate that the novel diode laser can phase-coherently track a stable optical reference with an instability of 1.8×10-16 at 1 s. This laser system is well suited for applications that require phase locking to a low-power optical reference under noisy conditions. It may also be considered for the implementation of optical clock lasers