Introducing the World’s Best Clock Laser: Menlo’s Ultrastable Laser ORS-ULN

Menlo Systems is proud to announce the release of the world’s best commercially available clock laser, the ORS-ULN, an ultrastable laser surpassing all previously attainable levels of frequency stability. The product provides a fiber-coupled laser output (1542 nm) with ultra-narrow linewidth and a fractional frequency stability at the 10^-17 level, allowing e.g. optical lattice clocks to overcome the frequency stability limitation arising from the aliasing of the local oscillator (Dick effect).

In the ORS-ULN, an ultra-high-finesse silicon cavity, stabilized at the zero-crossing temperature of 123 K, constitutes the optical refence for the continuous wave (CW–) laser stabilization. The principle was first demonstrated at the PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) and at JILA (the Joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology), and is now being released as a commercially-available product thanks to the joint development by Menlo Systems and the PTB.

The ORS-ULN is an all-in-one solution comprised of an optical part, an electronics rack, and a separate closed-cycle cooler. It features a transportation-lock mechanism, ensuring that the stability performance is maintained after shipment.

The unprecedented stability achieved by the ORS-ULN will significantly advance the development of state-of-the-art optical clocks, towards the redefinition of the second in the SI unit system.