An all-optical locking of a semiconductor laser to the atomic resonance line with 1 MHz accuracy

An all-optical locking technique without extra electrical feedback control system for a semiconductor laser has been used in stabilizing the laser frequency to a hyperfine crossover transition of 87Rb 5(2)S(1/2), F = 2 → 5(2)P(3/2), F' = 2, 3 with 1 MHz level accuracy. The optical feedback signal is generated from the narrow-band Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF) with nonlinear saturation effect. The peak transmission of the narrow-band FADOF corresponding to 5(2)S(1/2), F = 2 → 5(2)P(3/2), F' = 2, 3 crossover transition is 18.6 %. The bandwidth is as wide as 38.9 MHz as the laser frequency changes. After locking, the laser frequency fluctuation is reduced to 1.7 MHz. The all-optical laser locking technique can be improved to much higher accuracy with increased external cavity length. The laser we have realized can provide light exactly resonant with atomic transitions used for other atom-light interaction experiments.