Development and study of a 1.5 μm optical frequency standard referenced to the P(16) saturated absorption line in the ( ν1+ ν3) overtone band of 13C 2H 2

Abstract

We describe a recently developed saturated absorption spectrometer realizing an optical frequency standard based on the P(16) transition of the ( ν 1+ ν 3) band of 13C 2H 2. Studies of stability, reproducibility and sensitivity to various parameters were performed. The current stability of the system has been measured to reach 4×10 −13 for an averaging time of 100 s. To our knowledge, we report the first results on the parameter shifts of the Doppler-free P(16) line. A modulation amplitude shift of 4700 ± 300 Hz/MHz pp, an intracavity power shift of −11.4 ± 0.6 Hz/mW, and a pressure shift of −230 ± 20 Hz/mTorr were measured for standard operating conditions of: 1.0 MHz pp modulation excursion, 120 mW intracavity power, and 20 mTorr gas pressure. Control of these parameters should allow kilohertz reproducibilities of this device in the long term.