Abstract

Saturated absorption spectroscopy reveals the narrowest features so far in molecular gas-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. The 48-68 μm core diameter of the kagome-structured fiber used here allows for 8 MHz full-width half-maximum sub-Doppler features, and its wavelength-insensitive transmission is suitable for high-accuracy frequency measurements. A fiber laser is locked to the ¹²C₂H₂ v ₁; + v₃ P(13) transition inside kagome fiber, and compared with frequency combs based on both a carbon nanotube fiber laser and a Cr:forsterite laser, each of which are referenced to a GPS-disciplined Rb oscillator. The absolute frequency of the measured line center agrees with those measured in power build-up cavities to within 9.3 kHz (1 σ error), and the fractional frequency instability is less than 1.2 × 10 ⁻¹¹ at 1 s averaging time.

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History
Original Manuscript: June 26, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: August 21, 2009
Revised Manuscript: August 17, 2009
Published: August 25, 2009

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Author Affiliations

Philip S. Light, Francois Couny, Natalie Wheeler, Fetah Benabid

Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials, Dept. of Physics, University of Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

Kevin Knabe, Shun Wu, Jinkang Lim, Karl A. Tillman, Rajesh Thapa, Andrew M. Jones, Brian R. Washburn, Kristan L. Corwin

Kansas State University, 116 Cardwell Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA

Jeffrey W. Nicholson

OFS Labs, Somerset, NJ 08873 USA

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