Precision frequency measurement of 1S0–3P1 intercombination lines of Sr isotopes**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61127901) and the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJZD-EW-W02).

Abstract

We report on frequency measurement of the intercombination (5s2)1S0–(5s5p)3P1 transition of the four natural isotopes of strontium, including 88Sr (82.58%), 87Sr (7.0%), 86Sr (9.86%), and 84Sr (0.56%). A narrow-linewidth laser that is locked to an ultra-low expansion (ULE) optical cavity with a finesse of 12000 is evaluated at a linewidth of 200 Hz with a fractional frequency drift of 2.8×10−13 at an integration time of 1 s. The fluorescence collector and detector are specially designed, based on a thermal atomic beam. Using a double-pass acousto-optic modulator (AOM) combined with a fiber and laser power stabilization configuration to detune the laser frequency enables high signal-to-noise ratios and precision saturated spectra to be obtained for the six transition lines, which allows us to determine the transition frequency precisely. The optical frequency is measured using an optical frequency synthesizer referenced to an H maser. Both the statistical values and the final values, including the corrections and uncertainties, are derived for a comparison with the values given in other works.