Demonstration of a transportable 1 Hz-linewidth laser

• DOI: 10.1007/s00340-011-4652-7
• Publication Date: 2011-07-28T07:05:17Z
• Authors: S. Vogt; C. Lisdat; T. Legero; U. Sterr; I. Ernsting; A. Nevsky; S. Schiller
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; FOS: Physical sciences; 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; Physics - Optics; Optics (physics.optics)

3 pages, 4 figures<br/>We present the setup and test of a transportable clock laser at 698 nm for a strontium lattice clock. A master-slave diode laser system is stabilized to a rigidly mounted optical reference cavity. The setup was transported by truck over 400 km from Braunschweig to D��sseldorf, where the cavity-stabilized laser was compared to a stationary clock laser for the interrogation of ytterbium (578 nm). Only minor realignments were necessary after the transport. The lasers were compared by a Ti:Sapphire frequency comb used as a transfer oscillator. The thus generated virtual beat showed a combined linewidth below 1 Hz (at 1156 nm). The transport back to Braunschweig did not degrade the laser performance, as was shown by interrogating the strontium clock transition.<br/>