SmallTalks: Laser frequency stabilization: towards laser cooling of 88 strontium

Abstract 

Laser cooling is used to cool atoms, ions and molecules to submicro-Kelvin temperatures. At these temperatures, Doppler broadening is strongly suppressed, enabling extremely narrow spectroscopic linewidths, which is necessary for precision frequency measurements.

These ultracold systems can also serve as qubits for quantum computing, sensors for dark matter and gravitational waves, or the basis for investigations of fundamental physics phenomena, such as the limits of the superposition principle. The design of a laser cooling setup includes several lasers for different stages of the cooling process, which need to be accurately controlled to ensure the light is hitting the atoms' resonance frequencies. To control these lasers, a high-finesse external optical cavity is used as a reference.

This talk will discuss the design and implementation of laser cooling, focusing on the method used to stabilise the lasers.