Abstract

We demonstrate that first-order light shifts can be canceled for an all-optical, three-photon-absorption resonance (N-resonance) on the $D_1$ transition of ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$. This light-shift cancellation facilitates improved frequency stability for an N-resonance clock. For example, by using a tabletop apparatus designed for N-resonance spectroscopy, we measured a short-term fractional frequency stability (Allan deviation) of $\simeq 1.5\times {10}^{-11}{\tau }^{-1∕2}$ for observation times of $1\mathrm{s}⩽\tau ⩽50\mathrm{s}$. Further improvements in frequency stability should be possible with an apparatus designed as a dedicated N-resonance clock.

© 2006 Optical Society of America

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