Ultrastable frequency reference at 1.56 μm using a CO molecular overtone transition with the noise immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy method

Abstract: We report on an ultrastable molecular clock based on the interrogation of the 3{\nu} rotational-vibrational combination band at 1563nm of carbon monoxide 12C16O. The laser stabilization scheme is based on frequency modulation (FM) saturation spectroscopy in a high-finesse ultra-low expansion (ULE) glass optical cavity using CO as the molecular reference for longterm stabilization of the cavity resonance. The NICEOHMS FM modulation method is employed to maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio and avoid conversion of laser frequency noise into amplitude noise by the high finesse cavity. We report an Allan Deviation of 1.8x10-12 at 1 second that improves to 3.5x10-14 after 1000 seconds of averaging.