Compact, portable, thermal-noise-limited optical cavity with low acceleration sensitivity.

We develop and demonstrate a compact (less than 6 mL) portable Fabry-Pérot optical reference cavity. A laser locked to the cavity is thermal noise limited at 2 × 10-14 fractional frequency stability. Broadband feedback control with an electro-optic modulator enables near thermal-noise-limited phase noise performance from 1 Hz to 10 kHz offset frequencies. The additional low vibration, temperature, and holding force sensitivity of our design makes it well suited for out-of-the-lab applications such as optically derived low noise microwave generation, compact and mobile optical atomic clocks, and environmental sensing through deployed fiber networks.

Coherent optical clock down-conversion for microwave frequencies with 10-18 instability.

Optical atomic clocks are poised to redefine the Système International (SI) second, thanks to stability and accuracy more than 100 times better than the current microwave atomic clock standard. However, the best optical clocks have not seen their performance transferred to the electronic domain, where radar, navigation, communications, and fundamental research rely on less stable microwave sources. By comparing two independent optical-to-electronic signal generators, we demonstrate a 10-gigahertz microwave signal with phase that exactly tracks that of the optical clock phase from which it is derived, yielding an absolute fractional frequency instability of 1 × 10-18 in the electronic domain. Such faithful reproduction of the optical clock phase expands the opportunities for optical clocks both technologically and scientifically for time dissemination, navigation, and long-baseline interferometric imaging.

Quantum Zeno Effect assisted Spectroscopy of a single trapped Ion.

The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) is not only interesting as a manifestation of the counterintuitive behavior of quantum mechanics, but may also have practical applications. When a spectroscopy laser is applied to target atoms or ions prepared in an initial state, the Rabi flopping of an auxiliary transition sharing one common level can be inhibited. This effect is found to be strongly dependent on the detuning of the spectroscopy laser and offers a sensitive spectroscopy signal which allows for high precision spectroscopy of transitions with a small excitation rate. We demonstrate this method with direct frequency comb spectroscopy using the minute power of a single mode to drive a dipole allowed transition in a single trapped ion. Resolving the individual modes of the frequency comb demonstrates that the simple instantaneous quantum collapse description of the QZE can not be applied here, as these modes need several pulses to build up.

Single ion fluorescence excited with a single mode of an UV frequency comb.

Optical frequency combs have revolutionized the measurement of optical frequencies and improved the precision of spectroscopic experiments. Besides their importance as a frequency-measuring ruler, the frequency combs themselves can excite target transitions (direct frequency comb spectroscopy). The direct frequency comb spectroscopy may extend the optical frequency metrology into spectral regions unreachable by continuous wave lasers. In high precision spectroscopy, atoms/ions/molecules trapped in place have been often used as a target to minimize systematic effects. Here, we demonstrate direct frequency comb spectroscopy of single 25Mg ions confined in a Paul trap, at deep-UV wavelengths. Only one mode out of about 20,000 can be resonant at a time. Even then we can detect the induced fluorescence with a spatially resolving single photon camera, allowing us to determine the absolute transition frequency. The demonstration shows that the direct frequency comb spectroscopy is an important tool for frequency metrology for shorter wavelengths where continuous wave lasers are unavailable.Frequency combs are useful tools in high precision measurement including atomic transitions and atomic clocks. Here the authors demonstrate direct frequency comb spectroscopy to shorter wavelengths by probing a transition frequency in a trapped Mg+ ion using a single mode of a UV frequency comb.

Platelets are responsible for the accumulation of ß-amyloid in blood clots inside and around blood vessels in mouse brain after thrombosis.

INTRODUCTION: Platelets contain beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) as well as Aß peptide (Aß) that can be released upon activation. During thrombosis, platelets are concentrated in clots and activated. METHODS: We used in vivo fluorescent analysis and electron microscopy in mice to determine to what degree platelets are concentrated in clots. We used immunostaining to visualize Aß after photothrombosis in mouse brains. RESULTS: Both in vivo results and electron microscopy revealed that platelets were 300-500 times more concentrated in clots than in non-clotted blood. After thrombosis in control mice, but not in thrombocytopenic animals, Aß immunofluorescence was present inside blood vessels in the visual cortex and around capillaries in the entorhinal cortex. CONCLUSION: The increased concentration of platelets allows enhanced release of Aß during thrombosis, suggesting an additional source of Aß in the brains of Alzheimer's patients that may arise if frequent micro-thrombosis events occur in their brains.

Doppler Cooling Trapped Ions with a UV Frequency Comb.

We demonstrate Doppler cooling of trapped magnesium ions using a frequency comb at 280 nm obtained from a frequency tripled Ti:sapphire laser. A comb line cools on the 3s_{1/2}-3p_{3/2} transition, while the nearest blue-detuned comb line contributes negligible heating. We observe the cooling-heating transition and long-term cooling of ion chains with several sympathetically cooled ions. Spatial thermometry shows that the ion is cooled to near the Doppler limit. Doppler cooling with frequency combs has the potential to open many additional atomic species to laser cooling by reaching further into the vacuum and extreme ultraviolet via high-harmonic generation and by providing a broad bandwidth from which multiple excitation sidebands can be obtained.

Frequency stability of a 10 GHz optical frequency comb from a semiconductor-based mode-locked laser with an intracavity 10,000 finesse etalon.

An optical frequency comb is constructed using a semiconductor gain medium with a fiber-coupled external cavity and stabilized to an intracavity 10,000 finesse etalon, which is temperature stabilized and held in a vacuum chamber at 10(-6) Torr. Optical frequency stability measurements show that the comb has a reduced sensitivity to environmental fluctuations. An upper limit on the optical frequency variation of 100 kHz over >12 min of continuous operation is measured using a real-time spectrum analyzer. This measurement is limited by the linewidth of the reference source, and further measurements with a frequency counter show a fractional deviation of 2×10(-11) at 50 ms. Furthermore, out-of-band ASE rejection is shown to be >36 dB, a tenfold improvement over that of a laser with a 1000 finesse FPE.

A semiconductor-based, frequency-stabilized mode-locked laser using a phase modulator and an intracavity etalon.

We report a frequency-stabilized semiconductor-based mode-locked laser that uses a phase modulator and an intracavity Fabry-Perot etalon for both active mode-locking and optical frequency stabilization. A twofold multiplication of the repetition frequency of the laser is inherently obtained in the process. The residual timing jitter of the mode-locked pulse train is 13 fs (1 Hz to 100 MHz), measured after regenerative frequency division of the photodetected pulse train.

Resonant cavity linear interferometric intensity modulator.

We propose an intensity modulator based on injection locking of a resonant cavity with gain that has a linear transfer function, multigigahertz bandwidth, possible optical gain, and very low V(pi). The arcsine phase response of the injection-locked resonant cavity placed in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is the key to the true linear performance of this modulator. The first (to our knowledge) demonstration of this modulator with 5 GHz bandwidth, V(pi) of approximately 2.6 mV, and 95 dB spur-free dynamic range is reported here.

Helical Mathieu and parabolic localized pulses.

Using suitable polychromatic superpositions of helical Mathieu and parabolic nondiffracting beams, we study for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the higher-order helical Mathieu X waves and the traveling and stationary parabolic X waves. The mathematical and physical properties of these new kinds of localized pulses are discussed.