Push-pull laser-atomic oscillator

A vapor of alkali-metal atoms in the external cavity of a semiconductor laser, pumped with a time-independent injection current, can cause the laser to self-modulate at the "field-independent 0-0 frequency" of the atoms. Push-pull optical pumping by the modulated light drives most of the atoms into a coherent superposition of the two atomic sublevels with an azimuthal quantum number m=0. The atoms modulate the optical loss of the cavity at the sharply defined 0-0 hyperfine frequency. As in a maser, the system is not driven by an external source of microwaves, but a very stable microwave signal can be recovered from the modulated light or from the modulated voltage drop across the laser diode. Potential applications for this new phenomenon include atomic clocks, the production of long-lived coherent atomic states, and the generation of coherent optical combs.