Active optical clock based on four-level quantum system.

Active optical clock, a new conception of atomic clock, has been proposed recently. In this work, we propose a scheme of active optical clock based on four-level quantum system. The final accuracy and stability of two-level quantum system are limited by second-order Doppler shift of thermal atomic beam. To three-level quantum system, they are mainly limited by light shift of pumping laser field. These limitations can be avoided effectively by applying the scheme proposed here. Rubidium atom four-level quantum system, as a typical example, is discussed. The population inversion between 6 S and 5 P states can be built up at a time scale of 10 s. With the mechanism of active optical clock, in which the cavity mode linewidth is much wider than that of the laser gain profile, it can output a laser with quantum-limited linewidth narrower than 1 Hz in theory. An experimental configuration is designed to realize this active optical clock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]