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Phase-locked two-branch erbium-doped fiber laser system for long-term precision measurements of optical frequencies

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Abstract

We present a highly versatile approach to the application of femtosecond Er:fiber lasers in optical frequency metrology. Our concept relies on the implementation of two parallel amplifiers, seeded by a single master oscillator. With the comb spacing locked to a frequency of 100 MHz, we apply the output from the first amplifier to generate a feedback signal to achieve a simultaneous phase-lock for the comb offset frequency. The output of the independently configurable second amplifier enables precision frequency measurements in the visible and near-infrared. As a first application, we continuously measure the absolute frequency of a resonator-stabilized diode laser over a period of 88 hours.

©2004 Optical Society of America

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Figures (8)

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Schematic setup of the two-color Er:fiber laser system. Solid lines indicate propagation inside optical fiber, dashed lines stand for propagation in free space. CL, fiber-to-free-space coupling lenses; MTS, manual translation stage; PBS, polarizing beam splitter; λ/2 and λ/4, wave plates; LF, Lyot filter; FI, Faraday isolator; WDM, wavelength division multiplexer; HNF, highly nonlinear fiber; SHG, frequency doubling crystal; L, lenses; POL, polarizer; PD1, InGaAs photo diode; PD2, Si photo diode.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. (a) Spectrum and (b) temporal pulse profile of the compressed pulses from the first amplifier branch (black lines). The corresponding phases are depicted in blue. The relatively flat spectral phase indicates an almost transform-limited pulse. These results were obtained using frequency-resolved optical gating.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Detected comb offset recorded with an rf spectrum analyzer with a resolution bandwidth of 100 kHz and a video bandwidth of 10 kHz (black). The 3-dB-bandwidth of the Lorentzian fit (red) amounts to 330 kHz.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Scheme of the electronics used for locking the repetition rate. PD1 is the photo diode detecting the repetition rate. LP, low-pass filter; PS, power splitter. An analogous stabilization scheme is also used for the CEO frequency.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. (a) Recorded frequency of the phase-locked repetition rate at 100 003 087 Hz and (b) the simultaneously phase-locked carrier-envelope-offset beat at 30 000 000 Hz for a period of measurement of 10 000 seconds.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Experimental setup for measuring the frequency of a resonator-stabilized ECDL by employing the phase-locked comb from the second amplifier branch of the fiber laser. CL, out-coupling lens; DM, dichroic mirror; BC, beam combiner; LBO, lithium borate crystal; G, grating.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. Measured difference of the ECDL frequency to an arbitrarily chosen offset frequency f offset over a period of 88 hours.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Allan standard deviation of the measured frequency f ECDL. The integration time is as high as 30 000 seconds. For long integration times the Allan deviation rises with τ +1, which is typical for a drifting laser cavity.

Tables (1)

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Table 1. Technical data of the extended cavity diode laser (ECDL)

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