An optical clock based on a single trapped 199Hg+ ion.

Microwave atomic clocks have been the de facto standards for precision time and frequency metrology over the past 50 years, finding widespread use in basic scientific studies, communications, and navigation. However, with its higher operating frequency, an atomic clock based on an optical transition can be much more stable. We demonstrate an all-optical atomic clock referenced to the 1.064-petahertz transition of a single trapped 199Hg+ ion. A clockwork based on a mode-locked femtosecond laser provides output pulses at a 1-gigahertz rate that are phase-coherently locked to the optical frequency. By comparison to a laser-cooled calcium optical standard, an upper limit for the fractional frequency instability of 7 x 10(-15) is measured in 1 second of averaging-a value substantially better than that of the world's best microwave atomic clocks.

Controlling the phase evolution of few-cycle light pulses

Using a coherent nonlinear optical technique, slipping of the carrier through the envelope of 6-fs light wave packets emitted from a mode-locked-oscillator/pulse-compressor system has been measured, permitting the generation of intense, few-cycle light with precisely reproducible electric and magnetic fields. These pulses open the way to controlling the evolution of strong-field interactions on the time scale of the light oscillation cycle and are indispensable to reproducible attosecond x-ray pulse generation.

Phase coherent vacuum-ultraviolet to radio frequency comparison with a mode-locked laser

We demonstrate a versatile new technique that provides a phase coherent link between optical frequencies and the radio frequency domain. The regularly spaced comb of modes of a mode-locked femtosecond laser is used as a precise ruler to measure a large frequency gap between two different multiples (harmonics or subharmonics) of a laser frequency. In this way, we have determined a new value of the hydrogen 1S-2S two-photon resonance, f(1S-2S) = 2 466 061 413 187.29(37) kHz, representing now the most accurate measurement of an optical frequency.

Optical frequency synthesizer for precision spectroscopy

We have used the frequency comb generated by a femtosecond mode-locked laser and broadened to more than an optical octave in a photonic crystal fiber to realize a frequency chain that links a 10 MHz radio frequency reference phase-coherently in one step to the optical region. By comparison with a similar frequency chain we set an upper limit for the uncertainty of this new approach to 5. 1x10(-16). This opens the door for measurement and synthesis of virtually any optical frequency and is ready to revolutionize frequency metrology.

Direct link between microwave and optical frequencies with a 300 THz femtosecond laser comb

We demonstrate a great simplification in the long-standing problem of measuring optical frequencies in terms of the cesium primary standard. An air-silica microstructure optical fiber broadens the frequency comb of a femtosecond laser to span the optical octave from 1064 to 532 nm, enabling us to measure the 282 THz frequency of an iodine-stabilized Nd:YAG laser directly in terms of the microwave frequency that controls the comb spacing. Additional measurements of established optical frequencies at 633 and 778 nm using the same femtosecond comb confirm the accepted uncertainties for these standards.

Measurement of the hydrogen 1S- 2S transition frequency by phase coherent comparison with a microwave cesium fountain clock

We report on an absolute frequency measurement of the hydrogen 1S-2S two-photon transition in a cold atomic beam with an accuracy of 1.8 parts in 10(14). Our experimental result of 2 466 061 413 187 103(46) Hz has been obtained by phase coherent comparison of the hydrogen transition frequency with an atomic cesium fountain clock. Both frequencies are linked with a comb of laser frequencies emitted by a mode locked laser.

Accurate measurement of large optical frequency differences with a mode-locked laser.

We have used the comb of optical frequencies emitted by a mode-locked laser as a ruler to measure differences of as much as 20 THz between laser frequencies. This is to our knowledge the largest gap measured with a frequency comb, with high potential for further improvements. To check the accuracy of this approach we show that the modes are distributed uniformly in frequency space within the experimental limit of 3.0 parts in 10(17) . By comparison with an optical frequency comb generator we have verified that the mode separation equals the pulse repetition rate within the experimental limit of 6.0 parts in 10(16).

Accuracy of optical frequency comb generators and optical frequency interval divider chains.

We compared two methods for measuring large optical frequency differences: an optical frequency comb generator, which creates a large number of sidebands from a single-mode laser through electro-optic modulation, and an optical frequency interval divider chain, which divides a frequency gap successively by two until it becomes accessible to a radio-frequency counter. By locking two diode lasers to two modulation sidebands of a comb generator, ~1 THz apart, and measuring this interval with a chain of four phase-locked interval dividers, we demonstrate for the first time to our knowledge the accuracy of both techniques within an experimental limit of 6.8 x 10(-15).

White-light frequency comb generation with a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser.

We have created a broad spectrum spanning more than an optical octave by launching femtosecond pulses from a battery operated Cr:LiSAF laser into a photonic crystal fiber. Despite the massive broadening in the fiber, the comb structure of the spectrum is preserved, and this frequency comb is perfectly suited for applications in optical frequency metrology.

Absolute frequency measurement of the In+ clock transition with a mode-locked laser.

The absolute frequency of the In(+) 5s(2) (1)S(0)5s5p (3)P(0) clock transition at 237 nm was measured with an accuracy of 1.8 parts in 10(13). Using a phase-coherent frequency chain, we compared the (1)S(0)(3)P(0) transition with a methane-stabilized HeNe laser at 3.39 microm, which was calibrated against an atomic cesium fountain clock. A frequency gap of 37 THz at the fourth harmonic of the HeNe standard was bridged by a frequency comb generated by a mode-locked femtosecond laser. The frequency of the In(+) clock transition was found to be 1,267,402,452,899.92 (0.23) kHz, the accuracy being limited by the uncertainty of the HeNe laser reference. This result represents an improvement in accuracy of more than 2 orders of magnitude over previous measurements of the line and now stands as what is to our knowledge the most accurate measurement of an optical transition in a single ion.s.

Absolute frequency measurements of the Hg+ and Ca optical clock transitions with a femtosecond laser.

The frequency comb created by a femtosecond mode-locked laser and a microstructured fiber is used to phase coherently measure the frequencies of both the Hg+ and Ca optical standards with respect to the SI second. We find the transition frequencies to be f(Hg) = 1 064 721 609 899 143(10) Hz and f(Ca) = 455 986 240 494 158(26) Hz, respectively. In addition to the unprecedented precision demonstrated here, this work is the precursor to all-optical atomic clocks based on the Hg+ and Ca standards. Furthermore, when combined with previous measurements, we find no time variations of these atomic frequencies within the uncertainties of the absolute value of( partial differential f(Ca)/ partial differential t)/f(Ca) < or =8 x 10(-14) yr(-1) and the absolute value of(partial differential f(Hg)/ partial differential t)/f(Hg) < or =30 x 10(-14) yr(-1).