https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00811-y
Stable diode lasers for hydrogen precision spectroscopy
1
MPI für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
2
P.N. Lebedev Physics Institute, Leninsky Prosp. 53, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Corresponding author: Janis.Alnis@mpq.mpg.de
We report on an external cavity diode laser at 972 nm stabilized to a mid-plane mounted Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator with a finesse of 400000. The 0.5 Hz optical beat note line width between two similar lasers (Allan deviation 2 × 10-15) is limited by thermal noise properties of two independent FP resonators. The long term drift of the FP resonator and mirror substrates made from Ultra-Low-Expansion glass (ULE) is small and can be well predicted on time intervals up to many hours if the resonator is stabilized at the zero thermal expansion temperature Tc. Using a Peltier element in a vacuum chamber for temperature stabilization allows stabilization of the FP cavity to Tc which is usually below the room temperature. Beat note measurements with a femtosecond optical frequency comb referenced to a H-maser during 15 hours have shown a well defined linear drift of the FP resonance frequency of about 60 mHz/s with residual frequency excursions of less than ±20 Hz.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2008
