The laser cooling of ytterbium（Yb） atoms needs a 399-nm laser which operates on the strong1S0-1P1 transition and can be locked at the desired frequencies for different Yb isotopes.We demonstrate a frequency locking method using the fluorescence spectrum of an Yb atomic beam as a frequency reference.For unresolved fluorescence peaks,we make the spectrum of the even isotopes vanish by using the strong angular-dependence of the fluorescence radiations;the remained closely-spaced peaks are thus clearly resolved and able to serve as accurate frequency references.A computer-controlled servo system is used to lock the laser frequency to a single fluorescence peak of interest,and a frequency stability of 304 kHz is achieved.This frequency-locked laser enables us to realize stable blue magneto-optic-traps（MOT） for all abundant Yb isotopes.
We report a clock transition spectrum approach,which is used to calibrate the zero-crossing temperature and frequency drift of an ultralow expansion(ULE)cavity with a Hertz level resolution.With this approach,the linear and nonlinear drifts of the ULE cavity along a variety of controlled temperatures are clearly presented.When the controlled temperature of ULE cavity is tuned away from the zero-crossing temperature of the ULE cavity,the cavity shows larger and larger nonlinear drift.According to our theoretical analysis and experimental results,we investigate more details of the drift property of the ULE cavity around the zero-crossing temperature,which has seldom been explored before.We can definitely conclude that the zero-crossing temperature of our ULE cavity used in an ytterbium(Yb)lattice clock is around 31.7℃.
Hui LiuKun-Liang JiangJin-Qi WangZhuan-Xian XiongLing-Xiang HeBao-Long Lu
We report laser frequency stabilization with modulation transfer spectroscopy（MTS） on 85 Rb atoms. With both PZT（piezo-electric transducer） slow-loop feedback and current fastloop feedback to the laser head, we get a linewidth narrowing less than 5 kHz simultaneously. Laser injection to a laser diode and frequency beating with another polarization spectroscopy based stabilization setup are also employed to check the narrow linewidth property. With the help of the technique, a linewidth around k Hz-level laser is obtained and pave the way for the locking of the lattice laser of ytterbium clock with transfer cavity technique. The setup can be used as a frequency reference for precise frequency control of atomic clock system.
