Spectroscopy and laser cooling on the $^{1}S_{0}-\,^{3}P_{1}$ line in Yb via an injection-locked diode laser at 1111.6nm

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates generating sub-MHz linewidth yellow-green light at 555.8nm via injection-locking and frequency doubling of a diode laser at 1111.6nm, enabling spectroscopy and laser cooling of ytterbium atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a method to produce narrow-linewidth yellow-green light using injection-locked diode lasers at 1111.6nm and frequency doubling, suitable for atomic physics applications.

Findings

Confirmed linear dependence of linewidth on off-resonant laser intensity.

Demonstrated laser cooling of ytterbium with the generated light.

Validated the use of injection-locked diodes for sub-MHz linewidth radiation.

Abstract

We generate 555.8nm light with sub-MHz linewidth through the use of laser injection-locking of a semiconductor diode at 1111.6nm, followed by frequency doubling in a resonant cavity. The integrity of the injection lock is investigated by studying an offset-beat signal between slave and master lasers, by performing spectroscopy on the $(6s)^{2}$ $^{1}S_{0}-\,(6s6p)$ $^{3}P_{1}$ transition in magneto-optically trapped ytterbium, and by demonstrating additional laser cooling of $^{171}$Yb with the 555.8nm light. For the $^{1}S_{0}-$ $^{3}P_{1}$ spectroscopy, we confirm the linear dependence between ground state linewidth and the intensity of an off-resonant laser, namely, that used to cool Yb atoms in a $^{1}S_{0}-$ $^{1}P_{1}$ magneto-optical trap. Our results demonstrate the suitability of injection locked 1100-1130nm laser diodes as a source for sub-MHz linewidth radiation in the yellow-green spectrum.