Applications of electrodeless discharge Rb vapor lamp for frequency stabilization of 1529 nm laser

Optical-optical double-resonance (OODR) Spectra for the 5²P1/2 −6²S1/2 and the 5²P3/2 −4²D3/2,5/2 transition of ⁸⁷Rb have been used for frequency stabilization in near-infrared region for many years. Though the method works well, it calls for locked 780nm lasers to pump Rb atoms into 5²P3/2. We are trying to use an electrodeless discharge Rb vapor lamp to replace the complex locked pumping laser. The lamp's spectra show us that there are two spectral signals, 780nm and 795nm, are much larger than others. We are trying to make 5²P3/2 level populated by shining the lamp light into a Rb vapor cell. Meantime, the lamp could absorb 1529 nm laser most seriously when operating in red mode. The absorption signal with high SNR but with several hundred megahertz line-width is hopefully to be used to lock the 1529 nm laser directly without 780 nm laser. The advantage of the lamp used in the frequency stabilized system is to reduce the size and cost of 1.5 μm wavelength standard for optical communication application.