Passive atomic frequency standard based on coherent population trapping in ^87Rb using injection-locked lasers

Abstract

We present a microwave frequency standard based on coherent population trapping (CPT) in the 87Rb D1 line. The CPT spectrum is obtained using two Raman lasers with a 6.8 GHz frequency offset by injection locking of a master laser to a slave laser. We have constructed an atomic clock employing a 5 cm long Rb vapor cell confined with 6.67 kPa neon buffer gas at 70 °C. Using this system, we improve the CPT contrast through the elimination of undesired off-resonant fields created by the direct modulation method. We measured the frequency shift of the CPT signal as a function of the temperature of the Rb cell and estimated it to be approximately 1.3 ×10−9/K. The frequency of a 10 MHz crystal oscillator has been stabilized to the CPT spectrum between the two ground states in 87Rb. The relative frequency stability is approximately 2.3×10−12 for an average time of 68 s.