Mitigation of Temperature-Induced Light-Shift Effects in Miniaturized Atomic Clocks.

The demonstration of miniature atomic clocks (MACs) based on coherent population trapping (CPT) with improved mid- and long-term frequency stability benefits from the implementation of additional stabilization loops to reduce temperature-induced light-shift effects. In this article, we report and highlight the individual and combined benefits of such servo loops on the frequency stability of a CPT-based MAC. The first loop stabilizes the actual temperature of the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) chip using a compensation method in which the reading of external temperature variations is derived from the atomic vapor output signal. The second loop maintains the total microwave power absorbed by the laser to a value that maximizes the optical absorption and significantly reduces the laser power dependence of the clock frequency. Experimental tests are performed onto a miniaturized CPT-clock physics package using a chip-VCSEL tuned on the Cs D1 line ( λ = 895 nm). The VCSEL temperature compensation technique improves, by a factor of 4, the Allan deviation of the clock at 104 s. The simultaneous operation of both servo loops improves, by a factor of 7, the clock fractional frequency stability at 104 s. The clock demonstrates a fractional frequency stability of 7.5×10 -11 at 1 s and better than 2×10-11 at 1 day.

Characterization of commercially available vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers tuned on Cs D1 line at 894.6 nm for miniature atomic clocks.

We report on the metrological characterization of novel commercially available 894.6 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), dedicated to Cs D1 line spectroscopy experiments. The thermal behavior of the VCSELs is reported, highlighting the existence of a minimum threshold current and maximum output power in the 55°C-60°C range. The laser relative intensity noise, measured to be -108 dB/Hz at 10 Hz Fourier frequency f for a laser power of 25 µW, is reduced with increased power. The VCSELs frequency noise is 108 Hz2/Hz at f=100 Hz. The spectral linewidth of the VCSELs is about 30 MHz. VCSELs injection current can be directly modulated at 4.596 GHz with microwave power in the range of -10 to +0 dBm to generate optical sidebands. A VCSEL was used in a microcell-based Cs atomic clock based on coherent population trapping. A preliminary clock short-term fractional frequency stability of 8×10-11τ-1/2 up to about 100 s is reported, demonstrating the suitability of these VCSELs for miniature atomic clock applications.