DocumentCode :
2817736
Title :
All-photonic clock: Laser-atomic oscillator
Author :
Jau, Yuan-Yu ; Happer, William
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Phys., Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ
fYear :
2008
fDate :
19-21 May 2008
Firstpage :
665
Lastpage :
668
Abstract :
Laser-atomic oscillator is a newly developed method for simultaneously generating stable optical and electrical modulations with only a few components. It requires a semiconductor laser, a vapor cell, and maybe a few optical components. No photodetector and electronic feedback are needed. In this new system, the ground-state hyperfine coherence of alkali-metal atoms is spontaneously generated. The modulated laser light with a spectrum of a small optical comb is automatically produced, and the spacing between the comb teeth is photonically locked to the hyperfine frequency. The charge carriers in the semiconductor laser are also modulated at the hyperfine frequency. A well-designed laser-atomic oscillator can be thought as an ldquoall-photonic clock,rdquo a new kind of active atomic clock. The system is like an active maser in photonic version. It does not need a local oscillator and the assistance of microwave circuitry, and it consumes less power for the operation compared to passive, vapor-cell atomic clocks. Besides, laser-atomic oscillator can be very compact due to its simple structure. Recently, small or miniature atomic clocks have been considered to have many applications, and passive atomic clock is the main approach of making miniature atomic clocks. Complexity and the power consumption are still the major challenges. We believe that the technique of laser-atomic oscillator can bring some advantages in manufacturing small atomic clocks.
Keywords :
atomic clocks; photodetectors; semiconductor lasers; active atomic clock; active maser; alkali-metal atoms; all-photonic clock; electrical modulation; electronic feedback; ground-state hyperfine coherence; laser-atomic oscillator; microwave circuitry; modulated laser light; optical comb; passive atomic clocks; photodetector; semiconductor laser; stable optical modulation; vapor-cell atomic clocks; Atom optics; Atomic clocks; Frequency; Laser feedback; Masers; Optical devices; Optical feedback; Optical modulation; Oscillators; Semiconductor lasers;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Frequency Control Symposium, 2008 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Honolulu, HI
ISSN :
1075-6787
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1794-0
Electronic_ISBN :
1075-6787
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/FREQ.2008.4623083
Filename :
4623083
Link To Document :
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