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Spectral purity transfer between optical wavelengths at the 10−18 level

Abstract

Ultrastable lasers and optical frequency combs have been the enabling technologies for the tremendous progress made in precise optical spectroscopy over the last ten years1,2. Recently, to improve the laser frequency stabilization beyond the thermal noise fundamental limit of traditional room-temperature high-finesse optical cavities3, new solutions have been developed4,5,6,7. These are complex and often wavelength-specific, so the capability to transfer their spectral purity to any optical wavelength is therefore highly desirable. Here, we present an optical frequency comb-based scheme that transfers 4.5 × 10−16 fractional frequency stability from a 1,062 nm wavelength laser to a 1,542 nm laser. We demonstrate that this scheme does not hinder the transfer down to 4 × 10−18 at 1 s, one order of magnitude below previously reported work with comparable systems8,9,10,11,12,13. This exceeds, by more than one order of magnitude, the stability of any optical oscillator demonstrated to date6, and satisfies the stability requirement for quantum projection noise-limited optical lattice clocks14.

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Figure 1: Experimental set-up.
Figure 2: Relative frequency stability of the beatnote between the 1,542 nm slave laser and the 1,542 nm reference laser (standard Allan deviation, 5 Hz measurement bandwidth).
Figure 3: Phase noise PSD limits of the system, estimated assuming equal and uncorrelated contributions from two quasi-identical set-ups.
Figure 4: Frequency stability limits of the system (Allan deviation, open markers, 0.5 Hz measurement bandwidth; modified Allan deviation, filled markers), measured assuming equal uncorrelated contribution from two quasi-identical set-ups.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by the Ville de Paris' Emergence(s) 2012 programme, and CNES. D.N. and W.Z. acknowledge funding from the EMRP IND14 project, which is jointly funded by EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union. The authors thank S. Bize and the mercury optical clock team for the use of the ultrastable 1,062 nm laser, and M. Lours, J. Pinto and F. Cornu for technical support.

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D.N., B.A., W.Z., G.S. and Y.L.C. conceived and realized the components necessary for the realization of the final experiments. D.N., B.A. and W.Z. acquired preliminary data. D.N. realized the final experiments, and acquired and analysed the presented data. D.N., B.A., W.Z., R.L.T., G.S. and Y.L.C. all took part in the conception of one or several of the final three experiments and in the preparation of the manuscript. G.S. and Y.L.C. planned and managed the project.

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Correspondence to Yann Le Coq.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Nicolodi, D., Argence, B., Zhang, W. et al. Spectral purity transfer between optical wavelengths at the 10−18 level. Nature Photon 8, 219–223 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.361

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