Saturated absorption spectroscopy was used to measure well-known hyperfine spectra of molecular iodine, providing frequency calibration of a narrow-linewidth continuous-wave dye laser. This dye laser system is used as probe laser used for laser spectroscopy for nuclear structure studies at the BEam COoling and LAser spectroscopy (BECOLA) facility at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. An iodine-vapor cell was used as a sample, and pump and probe laser beams were split from a common laser beam using polarization optics. The two beams were counter-propagated in the cell. The pump beam was modulated with an optical chopper, and a lock-in amplifier was used to demodulate the probe-laser-light signal at the chopping frequency to eliminate Doppler-broadened background. Complete hyperfine spectra were observed for a variety of rotational, vibrational, and electronic transitions around 600 nm. Characterization of systematic error as well as improving resolution of the hyperfine spectra are ongoing. This newly-built system will be used to calibrate and stabilize lasers used for continuous wave lasers used for collinear laser spectroscopy of rare isotopes at the BECOLA facility at NSCL and later at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

Iodine saturated absorption spectrometer for laser frequency calibration

255th National Meeting (2018)

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