Some aspects of simulation and realization of an optical reference cavity

Didier Guyomarc'H (1) , Gaëtan Hagel (1) , Cédric Zumsteg (1) , Martina Knoop (1)

1 PIIM - Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires

The interrogation of an ultra-narrow clock transition of a single trapped ion for optical frequency metrology requires a laser stabilized to a couple of Hz per second with a linewidth of the same order of magnitude. Today, lasers in the visible have reached the Hz-range in frequency stability, if locked onto a high-finesse, ultra-stable reference cavity. Vertical mounting of the reference cavity can reduce its sensitivity to vibrations as described in \cite{notcutt05}. We have designed a comparable vertical cavity with an overall length of 150 mm resulting in a Free Spectral Range of 1GHz. Optimisation of the cavity design has been carried out with a Finite-Elements Method, leading to expected relative length variations below 10$^{-14}$ under the influence of gravity acceleration (1 $g$). The variation of different geometric parameters has been studied. The analysis of the different noise sources shows that, for a regime superior to a tenth of a hertz, the fast linewidth of the laser will not be limited by the cavity characteristics.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

Didier Guyomarc'H, Gaëtan Hagel, Cédric Zumsteg, Martina Knoop. Some aspects of simulation and realization of an optical reference cavity. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2009, 80, pp.063802. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.80.063802⟩. ⟨hal-00429940⟩