Absolute frequency measurement of the iodine-stabilized Ar+ laser at 514.6 nm using a femtosecond optical frequency comb.

Abstract

The frequency of 127I2 hyperfine component a3 of the P(13) 43-0 transition at 514.6 nm has been measured with an optical clockwork based on a femtosecond laser frequency comb generator. The measured frequency at an iodine pressure of 0.12 Pa is 67.3(0.75) kHz higher than the value of 582490603.38(15) MHz, adopted by the CIPM in 2003 [T.J. Quinn, Metrologia 40, 103 (2003)] but is in a good agreement with the value measured by R.J. Jones et al [Appl. Phys. B74, 597 (2002)]. In our experiment we used H-maser reference frequency located at BNM-SYRTE Observatoire de Paris and transported to our laboratory by a 43 km optical fibre link