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Gaëtan Hagel

Publications and source records attributed to Gaëtan Hagel.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Self-diffusion in a strongly coupled non-neutral plasma

We propose a joint experimental and theoretical approach to measure the self-diffusion in a laser-cooled trapped ion cloud where part of the ions are shelved in a long-lived dark state. The role of the self-diffusion coefficient in the spatial organisation of the ions is deciphered, following from the good agreement between the experimental observations and the theoretical predictions. This comparison furthermore allows to deduce the temperature of the sample. Protocols to measure the self-diffusion coefficient are discussed, in regard with the control that can be reached on the relevant time scales through the dressing of the atomic levels by laser fields.

physics.atom-ph↗

Noise characterization of an Optical Frequency Comb using Offline Cross-Correlation

Using an offline cross-correlation technique, we have analyzed the noise behavior of a new type of optical frequency comb (OFC), which is carrier envelope offset (CEO) free by configuration, due to difference frequency generation. In order to evaluate the instrument's ultimate noise floor, the phase and amplitude noise of a stabilized OFC are measured simultaneously using two analog-to-digital converters. Carrier recovery and phase detection are done by post-processing, eliminating the need for external phase-locked loops and complex calibration techniques. In order to adapt the measurement noise floor and the number of averages used in cross correlation, an adaptive frequency resolution for noise measurement is applied. Phase noise results are in excellent agreement with measurements of the fluctuations of the repetition frequency of the OFC obtained from optical signal.

physics.ins-det↗

Some aspects of simulation and realization of an optical reference cavity

The interrogation of an ultra-narrow clock transition of a single trapped ion for optical frequency metrology requires a laser stabilized to a couple of Hz per second with a linewidth of the same order of magnitude. Today, lasers in the visible have reached the Hz-range in frequency stability, if locked onto a high-finesse, ultra-stable reference cavity. Vertical mounting of the reference cavity can reduce its sensitivity to vibrations as described in \cite{notcutt05}. We have designed a comparable vertical cavity with an overall length of 150 mm resulting in a Free Spectral Range of 1GHz. Optimisation of the cavity design has been carried out with a Finite-Elements Method, leading to expected relative length variations below 10$^{-14}$ under the influence of gravity acceleration (1 $g$). The variation of different geometric parameters has been studied. The analysis of the different noise sources shows that, for a regime superior to a tenth of a hertz, the fast linewidth of the laser will not be limited by the cavity characteristics.

physics.optics↗

Comment on "Prospect of optical frequency standard based on a 43Ca+ ion"

A recent evaluation of the frequency uncertainty expected for an optical frequency standard based on a single trapped $^{43}$Ca$^+$ ion was published in Phys. Rev. A {\bf 72} (2005) 043404. The paper contains some interesting information like systematic frequency shifts but fails to depict their uncertainty, leading to confuse accuracy and precision. The conclusions about the major contribution to the frequency shift are not consistent with the presented calculations and omit comparisons with data published previously.

physics.atom-ph↗

Long-term stabilization of the length of an optical reference cavity

To obtain a high degree of long-term length stabilisation of an optical reference cavity, its free-spectral range is locked by means of an accurate and stable frequency synthesizer. The locking scheme is twofold: a laser is locked on the N$^{th}$ mode of a reference Fabry-Perot cavity and part of the laser light is shifted in frequency to be in resonance with the (N+1)$^{th}$ mode of the cavity. This shift is generated by an acousto-optical modulator (AOM) mounted in a double-pass scheme, matching half of the free spectral range of the reference cavity. The resulting absolute stabilization of the length of the cavity reaches the 10$^{-11}$ level per second, limited by the lock transfer properties and the frequency stability of the AOM control synthesizer.

physics.atom-ph↗

Metastable level lifetimes from electron-shelving measurements with ion clouds and single ions

The lifetime of the 3d^2D_5/2-level in singly-ionized calcium has been measured by the electron-shelving technique on different samples of rf trapped ions. The metastable state has been directly populated by exciting the dipole-forbidden 4S_1/2 - 3D_5/2 transition. In ion clouds, the natural lifetime of this metastable level has been measured to be (1095+-27) ms. For the single-ion case, we determined a lifetime of (1152+-20) ms. The 1sigma-error bars at the 2%-level have different origins for the two kinds of experiments: data fitting methods for lifetime measurements in an ion cloud and control of experimental parameters for a single ion. De-shelving effects are extensively discussed. The influence of differing approaches for the processing of the single-ion quantum jump data on the lifetime values is shown. Comparison with recent measurements shows excellent agreement when evaluated from a given method.

physics.atom-ph↗