Absolute frequency measurements of the 1 S 0 → 1 P 1 transition in ytterbium

Abstract

The ytterbium atom is widely used in the fields of atomic physics, cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum information processing, and optical frequency standards. There is however a strong dispersion among the reported values of the 1 S 0 → 1 P 1 transition frequency. In this article, we present two independent measurements of the absolute frequency of this transition performed with two different wavemeters using atomic fluorescence spectroscopy. The cancellation of Doppler shifts is obtained by fine tuning the angle between the probe laser and the atomic beam. The resulting 174 Yb isotope transition frequency is estimated to be 751 526 537 ± 27 MHz.