Stable CW laser based on low thermal expansion ceramic cavity with 4.9 mHz/s frequency drift

We describe a CW laser stabilized to a low thermal expansion ceramic cavity which has a lower frequency drift rate than cavities based on ultralow-expansion glass (ULE), which are widely used as optical references. Two identical optical cavities with spacers of different material, ceramic and ULE, were assembled and the optical frequencies locked to each of these cavities were compared. The optical frequency drifts of both CW lasers were measured to within a precision of 10^-11 in one second over the course of one year. The ceramic cavity had a long-term frequency drift rate of 4.9 mHz/s and the ULE cavity had one of 23 mHz/s.

Absolute gauge block calibration using ultra-precise optical frequency synthesizer locked to a femtosecond comb

In this paper, we report a gauge block (GB) calibration that is traceable to the SI unit of time, the second. Four ultra-stable optical telecommunication wavelengths near 1556 nm are obtained by locking a narrow-tuning-range fiber laser to a fiber-based femtosecond frequency comb. Since the GB calibration system does not operate at this region of spectrum, the superior frequency stability of the laser is transferred to the 778 nm region by using a waveguide periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. After applying the locking scheme, the stability and accuracy of the laser become better than 8×10(-12). The frequency-doubled light is sent through 30 m optical fiber to a GB interferometer, which is installed at a different laboratory in the same building. Using this calibration scheme, a GB with a nominal length of 100 mm is calibrated with an uncertainty of ±52  nm. This uncertainty value is still comparable to or even better than other metrology laboratories for a similar block length.