Standalone optical frequency-offset locking electronics for atomic physics

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22080v1
• Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:13:43 GMT
• Title: Standalone optical frequency-offset locking electronics for atomic physics
• Abstract summary: We present a standalone frequency-offset locking system for controlling narrow-linewidth lasers.<n>We lock two frequency-doubled 1560 nm lasers to a stable primary laser operating at 780 nm via their optical beat note.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: We present a standalone frequency-offset locking system for controlling narrow-linewidth lasers using off-the-shelf electronic components. We lock two frequency-doubled 1560 nm lasers to a stable primary laser operating at 780 nm via their optical beat note. This radio-frequency beat note is fed through a broadband variable divider, a frequency-to-voltage converter, and a proportional-integrator controller to lock each follower laser to a tunable offset frequency relative to the primary. This architecture provides a large capture range ($> 1$ GHz), fast response times ($< 1$ ms), and high linearity. We achieve a frequency resolution of 1.9 kHz and a short-term fractional frequency instability $10^{-11}/\sqrt{τ\rm (s)}$ at 780 nm without the need for a dedicated, precise clock reference. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy of cold $^{87}$Rb atoms to demonstrate the tunability and precision of our locking system. We designed the system to be modular and extensible, making it applicable to a wide variety of atomic physics experiments, including laser cooling, spectroscopy, and quantum sensing with atoms, ions, and molecules.

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