Zhang 

et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10 AAPPS Bulletin

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43673-023-00079-2

REVIEW ARTICLE Open Access

The development of active optical clock

Jia Zhang1, Tiantian Shi1*, Jianxiang Miao1 and Jingbiao Chen1 

Abstract 
The atomic clocks, whether operating at optical or microwave region, can be divided into two categories according
to their working mode, namely the passive clocks and active clocks. The passive clocks, whose standard frequency is
locked to an ultra-narrow atomic spectral line, such as laser cooled Cs beam or lattice trapped Sr atoms, depend on
the spontaneous emission line. On the contrary, the active clocks, in which the atoms are used as the gain medium,
are based on the stimulated emission radiation, their spectrum can be directly used as the frequency standard. Up to
now, the active hydrogen maser has been the most stable microwave atomic clocks. Also, the Sr superradiant active
atomic clock is prospects for a millihertz-linewidth laser. Moreover, the optical clocks are expected to surpass the
performance of microwave clocks both in stability and uncertainty, since their higher working frequency. The active
optical clock has the potential to improve the stability of the best clocks by 2 orders of magnitude. In this work, we
introduce the development of active optical clocks, and their types is classified according to the energy-level struc-
ture of atoms for stimulated radiation.
Keywords  Atomic clocks, Passive clocks, Active clocks, Stimulated emission radiation, Superradiant laser

1 Introduction passive clocks, whose standard frequency is locked to an

As the most precise scientific device, atomic clocks are
widely used in numerous fields, such as military and
national defense, cosmic exploration  [1–3], and scien-
tific frontier research  [4–6]. According to operating fre-
quency, atomic clocks can be divided into microwave
clocks and optical clocks. The optical clocks, operating
at frequency domain by about five orders of magnitudes
higher than that of the microwave clocks, have been sur-
pass the performance of microwave clocks both in sta-
bility and uncertainty. The stability of state-of-the-art
optical clocks has reached the magnitude of 10−19 [7, 8],
which means it can verify general relativity within mil-
limeter dimensions [9]. Atomic clocks also can be divided
into two categories according to their working mode,
namely passive clocks and active clocks (see Fig. 1). The
*Correspondence:
Tiantian Shi
tts@pku.edu.cn
1 others have conducted intensive research on Sr optical
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems
and Networks, Institute of Quantum Electronics, School of Electronics,
Peking University, Yiheyuan Road 5, Beijing 100871, China
ultra-narrow atomic spectral line, such as, laser cooled Cs
beam or lattice trapped Sr atoms, depend on spontane-
ous emission line. On the contrary, the active clocks [10],
in which the atoms are used as gain medium, are based
on the stimulated emission radiation, their spectrum can
be directly used as the frequency standard.
Currently, two types of optical clocks with the best per-
formance are both passive clocks, which are optical lat-
tice clocks  [7, 11, 12] and ion optical clocks  [8, 13, 14].
Since the observation of the strongly forbidden 1 S0 → 3 P0
transition can be used as a clock transition by Lemonde
et al. [15] and Katori et al. [16] in 2003, Sr optical lattice
clocks have developed rapidly. After that, the National
Institute of Standards and Technical (NIST), the Physi-
kalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the Obser-
vatoire de Paris, the National Research Council (NRC),
the Joint Institute of Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA),
the University of Tokyo, National Institute of Informa-
tion and Telecommunications Technology (NICT), and
lattice clocks. Currently, the frequency stability of the
√
Sr optical lattice clock can reach 4.8 × 10−17 / τ   [11],
and the system uncertainty can reach 2 × 10−18  [17]. In

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Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
Fig. 1  Classification of atomic clocks. According to the frequency band, atomic clocks can be divided into microwave clocks and optical clocks.
Atomic clocks also can be divided into two categories according to their working mode, namely passive clocks and active clocks
addition, the Yb optical lattice clock achieves a frequency
√
stability of 1.5 × 10−16 / τ  , a long-term frequency sta-
bility of 3.2 × 10   [7], and a system uncertainty of
−19
1.4 × 10−18  [18]. By cross-referencing with the Sr opti-
cal lattice clock, the relative frequency uncertainties of
the Hg optical lattice clocks achieved 1.8 × 10−16  [12]
and 8.4 × 10−17 [19], respectively. The National Institute
of Metrology (NIM) of China has realized the evaluation
and absolute frequency measurement of Sr optical lattice
clock with a system uncertainty up to 2.8 × 10−17 [20, 21]
√
and a frequency stability of 1.8 × 10−15 / τ  [22]. The sys-
tem uncertainty of Yb optical lattice clock developed by
East China Normal University reaches 1.7 × 10−16 [23].
In recent years, breakthroughs have also been made in
ion-trapped optical clocks. In the 1980s, Dehmelt’s group
proposed the idea of using the Paul trap to imprison
ions. Subsequently, the ion-trapped optical clocks with
Hg+ [24], Sr+ [25], Yb+ [13], Al+ [8, 26], and Ca+ [27, 28]
ions as quantum references developed rapidly. Among
them, the PTB achieves a Yb+ optical clock with a sys-
tem uncertainty of 3 × 10−18  [13] and tests the prin-
ciple of local position invariance  [29]. The NIST’s Al+
optical clock has reached the 10−19 order of magnitude
for system frequency accuracy assessment  [8]. In addi-
tion, the system frequency uncertainty of the Ca+ opti-
cal clock realized by the Wuhan Institute of Physics
and Mathematics (WIPM) of Chinese Academy of Sci-
ences is 5.1 × 10−17 , and the frequency stability reaches
7 × 10−17 at an average time of 20,000 s  [28]. Recently,
Page 2 of 17
Cao et  al. reported a robust, compact, and transport-
able 40 Ca+ single-ion optical clock with a system uncer-
tainty of 1.1 × 10−17 , and the frequency stability reaches
1.5 × 10−17 near 100,000 s [30].
In order to detect atomic transition spectra with mHz
linewidth, the local oscillator linewidth must be nar-
row enough. At present, the ultra-narrow linewidth
laser sources with low phase noise and high coherence
are mainly obtained by Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) tech-
nique  [31, 32]. It requires resonant cavity mirrors with
high reflectivity coatings to achieve 106 or higher finesse.
To reduce the thermal noise of the resonant cavity [33],
it is necessary to use single crystal silicon or microcrys-
talline glass with ultra-low thermal expansion coeffi-
cient as the cavity material [34]. In addition, the resonant
cavity needs to be placed in an ultra-low temperature
environment to reduce frequency drift  [35–37]. How-
ever, even with the most stable resonant cavitiy, the sta-
bilized laser is subject to cavity-length thermal noise,
which causes phase drift that limits the laser linewidth
to 0.125 − 0.3 Hz  [38, 39]. Using super-stable resonant
cavity results in expensive cost and complex systems, is
environmentally sensitive, and does not solve the cavity-
length thermal noise problem essentially.
To overcome the problem that the optical cavity used
for frequency stabilization is limited by thermal noise,
Chen proposed the concept of active optical clock (AOC)
in 2005 [10, 40]. After the AOC was proposed, it received
wide attention from international peers. In the 2015 IEEE
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
International Frequency Control Symposium (IFCS), the
AOC was listed as one of the three most emerging tech-
nologies receiving the most attention in this field. Cur-
rently, there are research groups across the globe such
as JILA  [41–43], NIST, University of Colorado, Vienna
University of Technology (TU Wien) [44, 45], University
of Copenhagen  [46], University of Amsterdam  [47, 48],
Aarhus University  [49, 50], Zhengzhou University  [51,
52], Physical Research Laboratory (India)  [53], Univer-
sity of Hamburg  [54], University of Innsbruck  [55, 56],
Leibniz University Hannover  [57], Nicolaus Copernicus
University  [58], Academia Sinica  [59], Guru Nanak Dev
University  [60], Université Sorbonne Paris Nord  [61],
and Peking University  [53, 62] conducting research on
bad-cavity superradiant laser based on various atomic
systems. Currently, the JILA research group achieves a
superradiant pulsed lasing based on the ultra-narrow
transition linewidth of 87 Sr atoms with a frequency stabil-
ity of 6.7 × 10−16 at 1 s and an accuracy of 4 × 10−15 [43].
The University of Hamburg realizes a hyperbolic sinu-
soidal superradiant light field based on 40 Ca atom
with intensity proportional to the particle number
squared [54]. The Niels Bohr Research at the University of
Copenhagen demonstrates a pulsed superradiant signal
based on 88 Sr [46]. The Aarhus University realizes super-
radiant pulsed laser with linewidth less than 2  Hz  [49].
The Peking University achieves a continuous-wave (CW)
Fig. 2  Schematic diagram of an AOC. Due to the high phase coherence of collective atomic dipole, the stimulated radiation can be used as optical
frequency standard directly. AOC works in bad-cavity region, and the gain linewidth is much smaller than the cavity-mode linewidth, so the center
frequency of output laser depends on quantum transition frequency, which can effectively suppress the cavity-pulling effect
Page 3 of 17
1470  nm active light field based on Cs thermal atoms
with a linewidth of 53  Hz and demonstrate its superior
cavity-pulling suppression property [62].
Compared to passive optical clocks, AOCs output an
optical frequency standard directly based on the prin-
ciple of stimulated radiation. Since it works in the bad-
cavity region, which means the cavity-mode linewidth is
larger than the atomic gain linewidth, it can effectively
solve the cavity-length thermal noise problem of passive
optical clocks based on PDH technique. AOC has impor-
tant application prospects and research significance in
a lot of fields, such as precision scientific measurement,
physical theory verification, quantum simulation, and
gravitational detection.
In this paper, we start with the origin of AOC. In Sec-
tion  2, we will focus on the fundamental principles of
AOC. We then review the scheme of AOC in Section 3,
which are classified into two-, three- and four-level
according to the quantum reference transition energy
levels. In Section  4, we present some applications of
AOC. Section 5 provides a summary and outlook.
2 Basic principle of active optical clock
In AOC, multi-atom coherent stimulated radiation is
formed between atomic transition levels through the
weak feedback of optical resonator; the schematic dia-
gram of the AOC is shown in Fig. 2. AOCs are based on
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
the principle of stimulated radiation, in which atoms are
pumped to the excited state under the action of pumping
light, creating a population inversion between two energy
levels. These atoms that have achieved population inver-
sion are placed in an optical resonant cavity as the gain
medium of the clock transition. Under the weak feed-
back of the cavity, the coherent radiation output is real-
ized as an active optical frequency standard. Due to the
phase coherence of collective dipole emission, the output
laser has excellent phase coherence, which can exceed
the quantum-limited linewidth determined by spontane-
ous emission [42, 63]. AOC is an innovative way to obtain
high coherence, ultra-narrow linewidth lasers. Using
quantum reference system as gain medium, its stimulated
radiation can be directly used as the clock laser. Conven-
tional passive optical clocks work in good-cavity region,
its local oscillator laser generally use medium with broad
gain linewidth, and the cavity-mode linewidth is nar-
rower than the gain linewidth, so its output frequency is
mainly determined by the central frequency of the cav-
ity mode. When the external environment noise causes
the change of cavity length, the output laser’s frequency
will change accordingly. Unlike conventional good-cavity
laser, the atomic gain linewidth of AOC is narrower than
the cavity-mode linewidth. Therefore, the AOC works
in the bad-cavity regime. The center frequency of the
clock laser depends on quantum transition frequency,
which can effectively suppress the cavity-pulling effect
and reduce the impact of the cavity-length thermal noise.
Utilizing AOC, the laser linewidth is expected to reach
mHz level [41] and the frequency stability is expected to
exceed existing optical clocks. There are several advan-
tages of AOC, as described next.
2.1 Cavity‑pulling characteristic
The relationship between the center frequency ν of AOC
output laser and the frequency ν0 of atomic transition
frequency can be expressed as [42]
Ŵ reach the order of mHz.
ν − ν0 = (νc − ν0 ), (1)
Ŵ+κ
where νc denotes the cavity-mode frequency, Ŵ is the
atomic decay rate, and κ is the cavity dissipation rate. The
output laser frequency changes with the cavity-mode fre-
quency by an amount P called cavity-pulling coefficient.
From Eq. (1), P can be expressed as
dν Ŵ 3 Research Schemes of AOC
P= = . (2)
dνc Ŵ+κ
In passive optical clock, Ŵ ≫ κ , the corresponding cav-
ity-pulling coefficient P ≈ 1 
, that is, the output laser
frequency follows the cavity-mode frequency exactly.
Page 4 of 17
Therefore, passive optical clocks are inevitably affected
by the cavity-length thermal noise, which affects their
frequency stability. Conversely, the AOCs work in bad-
cavity region, where Ŵ ≪ κ , P ≪ 1 . The effect of the cav-
ity-mode frequency variations on output laser frequency
is greatly suppressed, so the output laser frequency is
immune to ambient noise. Here, the bad-cavity factor is
defined as the ratio of the atomic decay rate to the cav-
ity dissipation rate, a = Ŵκ  . Using the bad-cavity factor,
the cavity-pulling coefficient can also be expressed as
P = 1+a1
 . For AOC, the bad-cavity factor a ≫ 1 and the
impact of cavity-length fluctuation on laser frequency is
reduced drastically.
2.2 Linewidth characteristic
The AOC output laser has excellent phase coherence
and the laser linewidth can break the quantum-limited
2
linewidth �ν = hν 4π Pout  , which is determined by sponta-
0 κ
neous radiation. According to the modified Schawlow-
Townes formula in bad-cavity regime, the linewidth of
bad-cavity laser can be expressed as [64]
hν0 κ 2 Ŵ
�νAOC = Nsp (3)
4π Pout Ŵ+κ
Here, it is assumed that the cavity-mode center frequency
coincides with the atomic transition frequency. Pout is
the output laser power, h is Planck’s constant, ν0 is the
atomic transition frequency, Nsp = N1N−N 2
2
is the spon-
taneous radiation factor, and N1 , N2 correspond to the
particle number in upper and lower levels, respectively.
The first two terms of Eq. (3) represent the quantum-
limited linewidth determined by spontaneous radiation.
For good-cavity laser, the linewidth can be reduced to
�νGood = 4πκMc  , with Mc being the average intracavity
photon number. For AOC operating in bad-cavity region,
Ŵ2
Ŵ ≪ κ , the linewidth can be simplified as �νBad = π κM  .
c
It is possible to break through the quantum-limited
linewidth determined by spontaneous radiation and
In summary, the AOC working in the bad-cavity limit
utilizes atoms as the gain medium, whose stimulated
emission radiation can be directly used as the frequency
standard. Therefore, compared with passive clocks,
AOCs have two significant advantages of cavity-pulling
suppression effect and narrower laser linewidth.
According to the energy-level structure of atoms for
stimulated radiation, AOC can be divided into three
categories: two-, three-, and four-level AOC. Among
them, the two-level scheme includes atomic beam, Fara-
day atomic filter, and optical lattice type; the three-level
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10 Page 5 of 17

scheme includes optical lattice, bad-cavity Raman, and
ion trap type; and the four-level scheme includes thermal
atom and optical-lattice-trapped cold atom type, which
are shown in Fig. 3.
3.1 Two‑level AOC
For two-level AOCs, international research is being car-
ried out including JILA, Peking University, University
of Copenhagen, University of Hamburg, and so on. The
atoms used in the two-level AOCs are currently focused
on Ca and Sr. Some properties of the two-level AOCs,
including the clock transition levels, their wavelengths
and working types, are given in Table 1.
3.1.1 Atomic beam two‑level AOC
In terms of two-level AOCs, atomic beam type is appli-
cable to any two-level atomic system with metastable
upper state. There are abundant quantum systems avail-
able, atomic beams such as Mg [65], Ca [66], Sr [67], Ba,
and molecular beams such as CH4  [68] and  OsO4  [69].
The basic working principle of atomic beam type AOC
is as follows: gaseous atoms generated by a heating
oven are collimated to form an atomic beam. The atoms
in the ground state are pumped to the metastable state
to achieve population inversion between clock transi-
tion energy levels. After that, metastable state atoms
interact with an optical resonant cavity to realize the
stimulated radiation output when they reach threshold
condition of laser oscillation. For different atoms, the
following energy levels are available: (4s2 )1 S0 − (4s4p)3 P1
for Ca atoms, (3s2 )3 P0 − (3s3p)3 P1 for Mg atoms, and
(5s2 )1 S0 − (5s5p)3 P1 for Sr atoms.
Take the Ca atom  [66] as an example to illustrate
more specifically. A 657 nm laser pumps the collimated
Ca atoms from the ground state (4s2 )1 S0 to metastable
state (4s4p)3 P1 , achieving a population inversion. Detec-
tion is performed with a 423 nm blue laser, which is
located after the pump laser and divided into two parts.
One is used to transfer unpumped ground state atoms
to (4s4p)1 P1 for electron-shelving detection. Once the
atoms are excited to metastable state, they fall back to
the ground state after a few tens of centimeters of flight
distance. Then, they are detected by another 423 nm
laser beam. In this scheme, interaction time broaden-
ing is the most dominant of all broadening mechanisms,
because it is much larger than the spontaneous radiation
rate at 3 P1 . Therefore, the interaction time broadening
can be considered as the atom gain linewidth, which is
2π × 150 kHz  . The cavity-mode linewidth is taken as
2π × 104 kHz . With proper design of bad-cavity struc-
ture, the limiting linewidth can reach 0.1 Hz according to
the modified Schawlow-Townes formula. However, there
are two problems with the atomic beam scheme. Firstly,
the remaining first-order Doppler effect due to the trans-
verse velocity distribution leads to the broadening of gain
linewidth, which can be overcome through laser cooling
technology. Secondly, the second-order Doppler effect
causes asymmetry in the gain profile, which becomes the

Fig. 3  Different types of AOC based on the transition energy level of quantum gain medium

Table 1 Properties of selected two-level AOC, including the clock transitions, their wavelengths, and working types. The
corresponding research groups and references are also shown
Atom Clock transition /nm Type Research group References
40 Ca 1 S -3 P
0 1 657 atomic beam Peking University [66]
88 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 1 689 atomic beam University of Copenhagen [46]
40 Ca 1 S -3 P
0 1 657 atomic beam JILA [70]
88 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 1 689
87 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 0 698 optical lattice JILA [43, 71]
40 Ca 1 S -3 P
0 1 657 optical lattice University of Hamburg [54]
133 Cs 2 S -2 P
1/2 3/2 852 Faraday Peking University [72]
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
main limiting factor for clock accuracy. Thus, the perfor-
mance of the two-level atomic beam AOC is ultimately
limited by the second-order Doppler shift, although it
adapts to a wide range of two-level atomic system with
metastable upper state.
Through laser cooling technique, the Doppler effect can
be largely suppressed. The Niels Bohr Institute at the Uni-
versity of Copenhagen has chosen 88 Sr atoms as a quantum
reference for laser frequency stabilization based on cavity-
enhanced atomic interaction, using both passive and active
methods  [73]. In the passive scheme  [74, 75], a cavity-
enhanced modulation transfer spectrum is employed and
the corresponding atomic phase shift is used as an error
signal. Since the atom-cavity coupling occurs in the bad-
cavity regime, the cavity-pulling effect can be signifi-
cantly suppressed compared to the conventional scheme
of locking the local oscillator to an ultra-stable cavity. In
the active scheme [46], 2 × 107 88 Sr atoms are confined in
a large waist cavity by laser cooling and magneto-optical
trapping (MOT). The 689 nm 1 S0 → 3 P1 dipole-forbidden
transition with a natural linewidth of 7.5 kHz is used as
clock transition, because it has a lifetime many orders of
magnitude longer than those of dipole-allowed transitions.
By applying 689 nm π pulse, the 88 Sr atoms cooled to mK
are excited to upper level 3 P1 . When the cavity-mode fre-
quency is resonant with the atomic transition, the atoms
immediately establish coherence through the cavity field,
achieving pulsed superradiance with high spectral purity.
The laser operates in the bad-cavity region, where the pho-
ton radiation is substantially enhanced due to the collec-
tive cooperativity. Its maximum output power is close to
1 µW . On the theoretical side, the atomic beam continu-
ous superradiant laser was studied by Université Sorbonne
Paris Nord  [61]. They proposed a minimalistic model to
explain laser threshold, power, correlation properties, and
linewidth. This model describes the dynamics of atoms
entering and leaving the cavity by a Hamiltonian process,
without stochastic approach. They demonstrated that the
ultimate linewidth is set by the fundamental quantum fluc-
tuations of the collective atomic dipole and the continuous
superradiant regime is tied to the growth of atom-atom
correlations.
Cold-atom-based superradiant lasers have proven
their superior performance, but parasitic heating from
atomic repumping has so far limited these systems to
pulsed operation [76]. This problem can be avoided using
a thermal atomic beam, because the pumping process is
performed outside the cavity. JILA proposed a new type
of superradiant laser using a hot atomic beam passing
through an optical cavity and show that the theoretical
minimum linewidth and maximum power are competi-
tive with the best ultracoherent clock laser  [70]. In this
article, 40 Ca and 88 Sr are analyzed as examples, but of
Page 6 of 17
course it can be extended to other kinds of alkaline earth
metal atoms. The atoms can be continuously pumped to
the excited state to obtain a constant population inver-
sion, thus overcoming the influence of Dick noise on
short stability and achieving CW superradiant laser out-
put with a theoretical linewidth of mHz level.
3.1.2 Optical lattice two‑level AOC
On the basis of laser cooling, atoms can be further loaded
into a magic wavelength optical lattice, which confines
the atoms tightly within the Lamb-Dicke range along
the cavity axis and eliminates the first-order Doppler
shift more effectively. In 2016, JILA achieved the first
pulsed superradiant laser at 698 nm ( 3 P0 → 1 S0 ) using
87 Sr atoms trapped in the optical lattice [71]. Experimen-
tally, 87 Sr atoms loaded into the optical lattice are pre-
pared by a two-stage cooling process. Initial trapping and
cooling are performed using the dipole-allowed 461 nm
1 S → 1 P transition, and further cooling is performed
0 1
using narrow linewidth 689 nm 1 S0 → 3 P1 transition.
Among them, the 689 nm laser is also used to pump 87 Sr
atoms from ground state 1 S0 to 3 P1 . Then the atoms trans-
fer to the upper level 3 P0 of clock transition via an adiaba-
tic passage by a 698 nm laser. Using an 813.4274 nm laser,
which is close to the magic wavelength, as the lattice
light, imparts near equal shifts to the ground and excited
states of the lasing transition so as to eliminate first-order
Doppler shift. Compared with independently radiating
atoms, the atomic collective emissivity is enhanced more
than 10,000 times after coupling to the cavity. On this
basis, JILA characterized the 87 Sr atomic ultra-narrow
linewidth superradiant laser in 2018 with a linewidth on
the order of 10 Hz , a frequency stability of 6.7 × 10−16 at
1  s, and an accuracy of 4 × 10−15  [43]. In this bad-cav-
ity regime, any fluctuation (thermal or mechanical) of
the cavity length has much less influence on the output
laser spectrum, resulting in a cavity-pulling coefficient of
2 × 10−6 obtained experimentally. For the Ca atom two-
level optical lattice AOC, the research group at the Uni-
versity of Hamburg observed a hyperbolic secant shaped
superradiant pulse with intensity proportional to the
square of the particle number in bad-cavity regime based
on 1 S0 → 3 P1 657 nm transition [54]. The pulse duration
is much shorter than the natural lifetime of the 3 P1 state,
and its decay time fluctuations are consistent with theo-
retical predictions. In this work, the population inversion
is achieved using incoherent pumping, which holds great
promise for achieving continuous superradiant output.
Theoretically, Zhang et  al. applied the Monte-Carlo
wave-function method (MCWF) method [50] to calculate
the superradiant pulses with different initial atomic num-
bers in the presence of atom loss, which is in agreement
with the experimental results in Ref. [71]. Since atoms are
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
lost rapidly in the experiment, steady-state superradiance
cannot be formed. By introducing an incident flux of new
atoms, the laser linewidth can theoretically reach the
order of mHz despite rapid atom number fluctuations.
Zhang et al. also used a stochastic mean-field theory [52]
to describe active frequency measurements of pulsed
superradiant emission generated by thousands of 87 Sr
atoms trapped in an optical cavity. This theory combines
cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum measure-
ment theory, and treats the whole atom ensemble as ten
separate subensembles with different transition frequen-
cies. The theoretically obtained superradiant beats sig-
nal, noisy power spectra, and frequency uncertainty are
in agreement with the experimental results reported in
Ref. [43]. Meanwhile, this theory predicts that the√short-
term frequency uncertainty can reach 7 × 10−17 / (τ/s)
by using longer superradiance pulses of similar strength
and by reducing the time for single measurements.
For the two-level optical lattice active superradiant
laser, Gogyan et al. [58] introduced a semiclassical theory
of superradiant pulses generated by alkaline earth atoms
and performed a feasibility analysis for an experimen-
tal implementation using the example of 40 Ca atoms,
reported in Ref.  [54]. The results show that the inho-
mogeneous optical pumping procedure has a significant
effect on the superradiant pulse characteristics. Uni-
versity of Innsbruck has evaluated the effects of dipole-
dipole interaction and collective spontaneous decay on
the radiation properties of the superradiant laser  [55],
such as linewidth, stability, and cavity-pulling, through
direct numerical simulations of minority-atom systems
with different geometries and densities. Besides, they
demonstrated that in the bad-cavity regime, by choos-
ing appropriate cavity detuning parameters, atoms can
be trapped and cooled by the cavity field generated by
their own stimulated radiation [56]. Academia Sinica [59]
theoretically investigated the effect of long-range dipole-
dipole interaction on the steady-state active superradi-
ant laser. The cavity photon number and the coherence
between atoms have oscillation phenomenon with
interparticle distance of the atoms. The maximal cavity
photon number and the minimal spectral linewidth are
located under the condition of equidistant atomic arrays,
which can facilitate precision measurements and the
development of next-generation optical clocks.
For the schemes mentioned above using laser-cooled
atomic beams and neutral atoms trapped in optical lat-
tices, the superradiant laser output can only be oper-
ated at pulsed mode. There is no phase coherence
between different individual pulses, and the pulse dura-
tion limits the stability of the output laser. To achieve
a continuous superradiant laser, sequential coupling
and decoupling can be used to maintain the coherence
Page 7 of 17
between pulses  [44]. High-speed transport of ultra-cold
atoms using a red-detuned one-dimensional optical lat-
tice has been experimentally achieved in 2006, with travel
distance up to 20 cm , transport speeds up to 6 m/s , and
accelerations up to 2.6 × 103 m/s2 [77]. In the sequential
coupling and decoupling scheme, a blue-detuned optical
lattice traps the atoms in the Lamb-Dicke region. When
an atomic ensemble is located inside the cavity and starts
to radiate, a second ensemble is excited to the upper state
and moves toward the cavity. Once the first ensemble
completes radiation, the second ensemble enters the cav-
ity and goes on to radiating while still maintaining the
phase of the cavity. At the same time, the first ensem-
ble exits the cavity and a new inverted ensemble is pre-
pared. Repeating the above process, because the phase of
the cavity remains constant, the superradiant pulses are
also highly phase-coherent with each other. It is worth
mentioning that the atoms can be prepared in the upper
lasing state outside the cavity, which can circumvent per-
turbations due to AC Stark shift. This sequential coupling
method is a promising approach towards creating an
active optical frequency standard. Based on the sequen-
tial coupling method proposed by Kazakov et  al.  [44],
JILA has recently realized the transport of atoms using a
moving optical lattice. [78], which is expected to be used
to realize a continuous superradiant laser.
3.1.3 Faraday type two‑level AOC
Compared with the atomic beam and optical lattice
scheme, the two-level Faraday type is simple in struc-
ture and easy to implement. The Faraday laser uses an
anti-reflective coated laser diode as the gain medium
and a Faraday atomic filter as the frequency-selective
device [79]. The laser frequency can be stabilized within
the transmission bandwidth of the atomic filter so that
the laser linewidth can be narrowed effectively through
optical feedback  [80]. The AOC scheme is adopted to
optimize the Faraday laser’s frequency stability and
named Faraday AOC  [72]. Its core principle is that the
gain and quantum reference are independent of each
other, thus reducing the influence of noise in the gain part
on the frequency stability. The gain can be provided by
materials such as semiconductors, solids, or dyes, while
narrow-band atomic filters provide a frequency refer-
ence. By choosing suitable parameters to make the exter-
nal cavity-mode linewidth much larger than the atomic
filter bandwidth, the laser works in the bad-cavity region,
thus reducing the cavity-pulling effect and improving fre-
quency stability. Meanwhile, the laser frequency is deter-
mined by quantum transition frequency, which can be
directly used as a stable frequency standard. This scheme
can satisfy the laser oscillation threshold by increasing
the pumping efficiency of the gain medium and obtain an
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10 Page 8 of 17

active optical frequency standard with narrow linewidth
by compressing the atomic filter transmission bandwidth.
Although this scheme is simple in structure, it is not
easy to narrow the transmission bandwidth to natu-
ral linewidth level, leading to a significant challenge in
further enhancement of bad-cavity factor. At present,
the linewidth of the Faraday active optical frequency
standard based on the thermal Cs atomic gas cell is
at 100 Hz order. It has not yet reached the theoretical
value [72]. To solve this problem, cold atoms or ions can
be used as quantum frequency reference mode-selecting
devices  [81], which can effectively suppress the Doppler
effect, reduce the transmission bandwidth, enhance the
cavity-pulling suppression, and thus compress the laser
linewidth.
3.2 Three‑level AOC
The three-level AOC includes optical lattice, ion trap,
and bad-cavity Raman type. For optical lattice type, the
atoms are trapped during the measurement period, so
it can exploit the very narrow hyperfine-induced ns2 1 S0
-nsnp 3 P0 , such as 87 Sr and 88 Sr . JILA research group
study the bad-cavity Raman laser and implement an
active magnetometer based on it. For ion-trapped three-
level AOC, there are only relevant theoretical studies,
and no real experimental realization has been made
yet. Properties of selected three-level AOC are shown
in Table  2, including the clock transitions, their wave-
lengths, and working types.
3.2.1 Optical lattice three‑level AOC
The Peking University firstly proposed an optical lattice
three-level AOC scheme in 2005  [40]. They use 423 nm
blue MOT and 657 nm red MOT to cool the Ca atoms
and then confine them in a magic wavelength optical lat-
tice. The 423 nm and 1201 nm lasers are used to pump the
Ca atoms from ground state 1 S0 to 3 P2 through 1 P1 , and
the atoms are concentrated in 3 P1 by repumping laser to
form the population inversion between 3 P1 and 1 S0 , thus
realizing 657 nm optical frequency standard. This work
presents the first neutral-atom-based optical lattice AOC,
which is expected to reach sub-Hz linewidth. In 2007,
this group revealed that a 1 mHz linewidth optical clock
could be realized by exploiting the phase-matching effect
of the three-level -type 88 Sr atomic system confined in
magic wavelength optical lattice [63]. When the nonadi-
abatic interaction of two quasimonochromatic fields with
the states 1 S0 , 1 P1 , and 3 P0 of 88 Sr achieves phase coher-
ence, a frequency difference field with 1 mHz linewidth
will be generated by the nonlinear crystal placed in a FP
cavity.
A method to obtain a laser with mHz linewidth was
also proposed by the JILA research group in 2009  [41]:
87 Sr atoms in an optical lattice collectively emit pho-
tons on the ultranarrow clock transition 1 S0 → 3 P0 ,
into the mode of a high Q optical cavity. Since the cou-
pling between atoms and the optical field is completely
collective, i.e., the phase of different atomic dipoles are
perfectly coherent, and the output laser linewidth is
expected to be narrower than the natural linewidth. This
scheme assumes that the atoms are confined in an opti-
cal lattice within a fixed lattice point so that the intera-
tomic coupling is maximized and these atoms are in
the same phase within a specific cavity mode. Repump-
ing lasers drive atoms from 1 S0 to 3 P0 , and then atoms
transfer to 3 S1 . Due to spontaneous radiation, atoms in
the 3 S1 state decay to the 3 P2 and 3 P0 , forming Raman
transition between these two states to implement side-
band cooling to the vibrational ground state. Besides, the
repumping lasers also pump all atoms to the 3 P0 meta-
stable level, thus satisfying inversion for laser transition.
Since the total relaxation rate Ŵ of the atomic dipole is
at most on the order of 103 s−1 and the cavity decay rate
κ is 9.4 × 105 s−1  , the cavity-pulling suppression fac-
tor is at least on the order of 103 . Theoretical calculation
shows laser linewidth can reach the mHz level. However,

Table 2 Properties of selected three-level AOC, including the clock transitions, their wavelengths, and working types. The
corresponding research groups and references are also shown
Atom Clock transition /nm Type Research group Reference
40 Ca 1 S -3 P
0 1 657 Optical lattice Peking University [40]
88 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 0 698 Optical lattice Peking University [63]
87 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 0 698 Optical lattice JILA [41]
88 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 1 689 Optical lattice JILA [76]
88 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 1 689 “Hybrid” type TU Wien, JILA, EU [44, 47, 78, 82]
87 Sr 1 S -3 P
0 0 698
87 Rb 2 S -2 P
1/2 3/2 780 Bad-cavity Raman JILA [42, 83–85]
171 Yb+ 2 S -2 D
1/2 3/2 435 Ion trap Peking University [86]
176 Lu+ 1 S -3 D
0 2 804 Ion trap TU Wien [45, 87]
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
this result can only be achieved if the effective repump
rate reaches 103 s−1 and the atom number is at 106 level.
Under this condition, the fluctuations in atomic tran-
sition frequency introduced due to AC Stark shift are
negligible at mHz level. Moreover, the maximum laser
output power is proportional to the square of the atom
number. When the atom number is at 106 , the power can
reach pW order, enough to be used for the phase locking
of a slave optical local oscillator.
Subsequently, the JILA group proposed the idea that
using a high-finesse resonant cavity, based on alkaline-
earth metal atoms with an ultra-narrow-linewidth transi-
tion to achieve a steady-state superradiance[88]. In order
to obtain the intensity fluctuations of the steady-state
superradiant laser, JILA performed an analysis using
Monte Carlo simulations and semiclassical approxima-
tion methods  [89]. They found that the light exhibits
bunching below threshold, is to a good approximation
coherent in the superradiant regime, and is chaotic above
the second threshold. Toward achieving mHz linewidth,
JILA studied superradiant lasing on the 7.5 kHz linewidth
dipole-forbidden 3 P1 → 1 S0 transition at 689 nm , with an
ensemble of 88 Sr atoms tightly trapped in a 1D optical lat-
tice [76]. This laser is in a superradiant crossover regime,
which means it can be operated at the crossover between
good- and bad-cavity regimes. The cold-atom gain
medium can be repumped to achieve quasi-steady-state
lasing, and the frequency of the emitted light is deter-
mined by the atomic transition frequency when oper-
ated in the bad-cavity regime. They also characterized
the cavity-pulling suppression of the bad cavity, where
the laser frequency variation is reduced by an order of
magnitude. Experimentally, the cavity-pulling coeffi-
cient is 0.09(2). They also obtained heterodyne power
spectral density (PSD) between output light and 689 nm
pump laser, with Lorentzian (Gaussian) full width at half
maximum (FWHM) of 6.0(3) (4.7(3)) kHz. The measured
linewidth is slightly narrower than the natural linewidth
of the lasing transition (7.5  kHz) and far narrower than
the linewidth imposed by repumping (100 kHz), exhibit-
ing the linewidth-narrowing characteristic of synchroni-
zation in a laser.
Zhang et  al. theoretically explained this linewidth-
narrowing property  [51]. When the ultracold 88 Sr
atoms in the optical lattice are exposed to a magnetic
field, the ensemble of atoms with Zeeman-split excited
states exhibits lasing with very narrow linewidth, which
is orders of magnitude smaller than both the cavity
linewidth and the incoherent atomic decay and exci-
tation rates. The narrow-linewidth lasing is due to an
interplay of multiatom superradiant effects and the cou-
pling of bright and dark atom-light dressed states by the
magnetic field. In 2018, the Department of Physics and
Page 9 of 17
Astronomy at Aarhus University theoretically analyzed
87 Sr and 88 Sr atoms also trapped within a one-dimen-
sional optical lattice in a bad-cavity region  [49]. Their
calculations confirm that using 3 P0 → 1 S1 of 87 Sr atoms
and 3 P1 → 1 S0 of 88 Sr atoms transitions, it is possible to
realize the narrow linewidth of superradiant lasing. Spe-
cially, under strong driving of the dipole-forbidden tran-
sition 3 P1 → 1 S0 of 88 Sr atoms, the superradiant laser
linewidth can be further narrowed due to the coherent
excitation of the cavity field.
In 2014, Kazakov et al. discussed in detail two options
for implementing active optical frequency standard: opti-
cal lattice AOC and atomic beam AOC. They analyzed
some parameters required to achieve the best frequency
stability as well as the implications and challenges in the
implementation [90]. In addition, a “hybrid” method was
proposed in which the atoms are prepared outside the
cavity, fed into the cavity by a “guide beam” or “optical
conveyors” to complete the stimulated radiation pro-
cess. A blue-detuned optical lattice is used to prevent
the atoms from moving along the cavity axis, suppress-
ing decoherence and first-order Doppler effects. JILA has
recently realized continuous loading of ultra-cold 88 Sr
atoms into a high-finesse ring cavity and using a mov-
ing optical lattice to transport the atoms along the cav-
ity axis  [78]. Experimentally, the loading rate reaches
2.1(3) × 107  atoms/s. This work lays the foundation for
the future implementation of continuous-type active
superradiant lasers based on the mHz clock transition of
87 Sr atom.
Aiming to achieve a CW AOC, the European Union
(EU) has set up the iqClock project, led by the Univer-
sity of Amsterdam, in collaboration with six universities
(University of Amsterdam, University of Birmingham,
Nicolaus Copernicus University, University of Copen-
hagen, Vienna University of Technology, University of
Innsbruck) and six companies (Teledyne e2v, TOPTICA,
NKT Photonics, Acktar, Chronos Technology Ltd, British
Telecom). A cold atomic beam scheme is used to achieve
CW clock lasers by transporting Sr atoms through a
moving optical lattice into a ring cavity. A clock laser
linewidth of 100 mHz is expected to be achieved within 5
years and linewidth on the order of mHz within 10 years.
In 2019, the University of Amsterdam realized a continu-
ous guided atomic beam of 88 Sr atoms with a phase-space
density exceeding 10−4 and a flux of 3 × 107 atoms/s [47].
With the optical guide, the atoms reach a velocity of
8.4  cm/s and can be used to complement the gain
medium of the steady-state atom laser, which is an
important step towards the realization of a steady-state
superradiant AOC. In 2021, this group demonstrated a
steady-state MOT of fermionic Sr atoms operating on the
7.5-kHz-wide 1 S0-3 P1 transition [48]. This MOT contains
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
8.4 × 107 atoms with a loading rate of 1.3 × 107  atoms/s
and an average temperature of 12 µK , which can be used
to provide a high flux of ultracold atoms source for the
realization of a continuous superradiant AOC. Based on
the steady-state MOT, this group has also achieved con-
tinuous Bose-Einstein condensation  [91]. Through the
magic wavelength optical conveyor in the ring cavity, a
continuous source of ultracold Sr atoms in the excited
state 3 P0 can be realized, delivering several tens of mil-
lions of 88 Sr atoms or millions of 87 Sr atoms per sec-
ond [82]. The use of the ring cavity increases the transfer
speed, reduces atom losses and decreases the density of
the atoms, paving the way for CW superradiant AOC.
3.2.2 Bad‑cavity Raman three‑level AOC
In 2012, JILA group proposed an bad-cavity Raman laser
experimental scheme  [42, 83], which achieved a Raman
superradiant laser with an average photon number less
than 0.2 in the cavity. Experimentally, the laser operates
in deep bad-cavity region, where the ratio of the trans-
verse decoherence rate to cavity decay rate of the laser
transition is in the range of 2 × 10−5 ∼ 10−3 . About 106
87 Rb atoms are trapped by 823 nm laser in one-dimen-
sional optical lattice with a temperature of 40 µK . The
cavity is coupled to an optically dressed state that mim-
ics a long-lived optically excited state. A 795 nm linearly
polarized dressing laser is applied to two magnetically
insensitive energy levels to induce Raman transition. If
the atoms are pumped continuously from ground state
to metastable state while applying the dressing laser, a
quasi-continuous superradiance laser with a duration
of 20 − 140 ms can be obtained. Each atom can radiate
approximately 35 photons into the cavity mode. Under
the action of light, collisions between atoms cause them
to escape from the optical lattice, which eventually
leads to a break in superradiance. The power spectrum
(PSD) was obtained by heterodyning the superradiant
laser and the dressing laser with a Gaussian FWHM of
350 Hz and a Lorentzian FWHM of 4.5 Hz . Although
this result is much narrower than the spontaneous radia-
tion linewidth, it differs significantly from the theoreti-
cally calculated 2(1) mHz linewidth due to the dispersion
detuning of the cavity-mode frequency caused by atom
number changing. In this experiment, a surprisingly
tiny cavity-pulling coefficient P = 4 × 10−5 ∼ 2 × 10−3
is obtained, and it can be further enhanced by reducing
decay rate γ  , which in turn suppresses the laser linewidth.
Overall, this scheme proves the feasibility and superiority
of AOC scheme, but there are problems of discontinuous
output and weak power. The 795 nm dressing laser and
780 nm pump laser will introduce light shift, resulting in
the bad-cavity Raman laser cannot be used as an opti-
cal frequency standard. To further achieve continuous
Page 10 of 17
superradiant laser, the decay rate of a single particle can
be far balanced with the repumping rate by appropriate
design so as to increase the laser cooling and trapping
time.
Under this foundation, the JILA group investigated
the oscillation relaxation, stability, and cavity feedback
characteristics of the bad-cavity Raman superradiant
laser  [84]. Moreover, they demonstrated a hybrid mode
in which the laser can switch between active sensing and
passive phase measurements  [85]. The results culmi-
nate in a hybrid sensor that combines active sensing of
the collective atomic phase during superradiant emis-
sion with passive phase measurements using Ramsey-like
evolution times, which are of guiding significance for the
future development of ultra-narrow linewidth superradi-
ant laser.
3.2.3 Ion trap three‑level AOC
In 2014, the Peking University proposed an active ion
optical clock scheme  [86] using cold ions trapped in
Paul trap as gain medium, which is expected to achieve
active optical frequency standard with mHz linewidth.
The basic principle of this scheme is similar to that of the
optical lattice scheme, and theoretical studies have found
that 171 Yb+ , 191 Hg+ , 137,138 Ba+ , 43 Ca+ , and 87,88 Sr+ ions
are suitable for active ion optical clock. Taking 171 Yb+ as
an example, the 435.5 nm 2 S1/2 (F = 0) − 2 D3/2 (F = 1)
transition with a natural linewidth of 3.1 Hz is chosen
as clock laser. The cooling light and the repumping light
correspond to 369.5 nm 2 S1/2 (F = 0) − 2 P1/2 (F = 1)
and 2 S1/2 (F = 1) − 2 P1/2 (F = 0) transitions, respec-
tively, and both can be used for pumping ions to upper
energy level 2 D3/2 (F = 1, 2) . The ions at 2 D3/2 (F = 2)
are pumped to 3 D1/2 (F = 1) by 935 nm repumping
laser. Eventually, most of the ions are transferred to
3/2 (F = 1) to achieve population inversion and stim-
2D
ulated radiation output. Theoretically, the laser output
power can be up to 37 pW when reaching steady state,
and it can be increased to 77 pW by increasing the light
intensity and the ions number. However, it is difficult to
significantly increase the ion number experimentally, and
the ion AOC also suffers from the light shift caused by
pumping laser, which ultimately affects the clock laser’s
performance.
In 2017, Kazakov et  al. proposed that a bad-cav-
ity laser may be realized using forbidden transitions
in large ensembles of cold ions that form a spherical
Coulomb crystal in a linear Paul trap  [45], which can
guarantee longer trap lifetimes relative to neutral-atom-
optical-lattice type. Micromotion-induced shifts such
as the second-order Doppler and DC Stark shifts can be
a suppressed by operating the ion trap at a magic fre-
quency. Considering 176 Lu+ ions imprisoned in a high
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
finesse ( F = 105 ) optical resonant cavity, an output
power of 0.5  pW can be achieved based on the 3 D2-1 S0
transition when the ion number reaches 105 and the con-
finement frequency is 1 MHz [87]. If proper continuous
cooling and pumping are provided, a truly steady-state
AOC lasing in the bad-cavity regime is expected. This
laser is promising to achieve an active optical frequency
standard as a local oscillator for the next-generation opti-
cal clock scheme.
3.3 Four‑level AOC
In the two-level atomic beam scheme, the Doppler
effect of thermal atomic system is more influential.
Using laser cooling technology can reduce the first-
order Doppler effect, but this will complicate the sys-
tem, and the residual Doppler effect will still limit the
clock laser performance. The three-level optical lattice,
Paul trap scheme for imprisoning atoms or ions is lim-
ited by light shift caused by pumping laser. Moreover,
most of the above two schemes implement pulse AOC
signals. In contrast, the four-level AOC scheme has
three advantages. Firstly, the clock transition energy
level does not involve the ground state, which can
reduce light shift introduced by pumping laser. Sec-
ondly, a magnetic dipole transition energy level can
be chosen, where the laser emission coefficient is not
limited by smaller atom-cavity coupling constant com-
pared to narrower linewidth electric dipole transi-
tion. Finally, the four-level AOC can be continuously
pumped to output a stable CW AOC signal. Figure  4
Fig. 4  Simplified energy level diagram of (a) three-level and (b) four-level AOC
Table 3  A few options for four-level active optical clocks
Atom Pumping laser Pumping laser corresponding energy Clock laser
level
Cs 455 nm 6S1/2 → 7P3/2 6S1/2 → 7P1/2
459 nm
Rb 420 nm 5S1/2 → 6P3/2 5S1/2 → 6P1/2
421 nm
K 405 nm 4S1/2 → 5P3/2
Page 11 of 17
shows the simplified energy level of the three- and
four-level AOC schemes. In the three-level scheme,
the light shift is inevitably introduced because the
clock laser shares the ground state |1� with the pump-
ing laser. Conversely, in the four-level scheme, atoms
are pumped from ground state |1� to excited state |2� .
Due to spontaneous radiation, they are transferred to
the clock transition upper energy level |3� , where popu-
lation inversion is formed between |3� and |4� to achieve
stimulated radiation. Since the pumping laser and the
clock laser transition energy levels are independent of
each other, the light shift can be significantly reduced
by choosing a suitable quantum system with a signifi-
cant frequency difference.
In a four-level AOC scheme, the quantum system can
select alkali metal atoms such as K [92], Rb [93, 94], and
Cs  [62, 95–98]. Taking Cs atom as an example, the Cs
atomic gas cell is placed in a low-finesse optical cavity to
make cavity-mode linewidth larger than gain linewidth
to satisfy bad-cavity condition. Using a 459 nm laser as
pumping laser, the Cs atoms are pumped from ground
state 6S1/2 to the second excited state 7P1/2 , then
dropped to 7S1/2 state by spontaneous radiation, cre-
ating a population inversion between 7S1/2 and 6P3/2
when reaching steady state. Under the weak feedback of
the optical cavity, the atomic dipoles are spontaneously
synchronized with high coherence, producing a 1470 nm
stimulated radiation clock laser. Different atoms and
their corresponding energy level choices for four-level
AOC are shown in Table 3.
Clock transition
1470 nm 7S1/2 → 6P3/2 7S1/2 → 6P1/2
1359 nm
1367 nm 6S1/2 → 5P3/2 6S1/2 → 5P1/2
1323 nm
1252 nm 5S1/2 → 4P3/2
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
3.3.1 Thermal atom four‑level AOC
The four-energy level AOC scheme was first proposed by
Yu et  al. in 2010  [99].Theoretically, a superradiant laser
with intensity proportional to N 2 and linewidth scales to
1/N 2 is studied. In addition, the stationary state solution
of full atomic cooperativity is derived, and the stability
of the superradiant laser is analyzed under the assump-
tion of no spontaneous radiation. Subsequently, Wang
et  al. carried out a related experiment based on the Cs
atomic quantum system  [100]. By measuring the inten-
sity of fluorescence signals at different wavelengths, such
as 1470 nm and 1359 nm , they determined the formation
of population inversion between clock transition energy
levels. During the same period, a four-level scheme based
on alkali metal K  [92], Cs  [95], and Rb  [93] atoms was
theoretically verified for feasibility based on the density
matrix equation, and data such as the wavelength of the
pumping laser and the energy level satisfying the popu-
lation inversion were obtained. Moreover, the magic
wavelengths corresponding to Rb atoms 6S1/2 → 5P1/2
and 6S1/2 → 5P3/2 were theoretically calculated in order
to reduce the Doppler effect  [101]. Using an optical lat-
tice to imprison the laser-cooled atoms in the Lamb-Dick
region, it is estimated that the effect of AC Stark fre-
quency shift on the clock laser frequency stability can be
reduced to less than 10−18.
The AOC lasing at a wavelength of 1470 nm using the
Cs four-level system was firstly achieved in 2013  [102].
On this basis, the 1359 nm and 1470 nm clock laser out-
puts were achieved successfully by using 455 nm and
459 nm pumping laser. The bad-cavity factor reached
more than 40, and the 1470 nm laser linewidth reached
407.3 Hz . For the Rb atom, a 1367 nm continuous active
optical frequency standard was achieved using a 420 nm
semiconductor laser with modulated transfer spectrum
stabilization  [94]. To further stabilize the resonant cav-
ity length and reduce the frequency drift caused by the
residual cavity-pulling effect, a dual-wavelength good-
bad-cavity AOC is proposed  [97]. In this scheme, two
lasers of different wavelengths are output simultane-
ously in a common cavity and separately operate in
good- and bad-cavity regions, called the good- and bad-
cavity lasers. The good-cavity laser is locked to an ultra-
stable cavity by the PDH technique to stabilize the cavity
length. Therefore, as a clock laser, the bad-cavity laser
will be further optimized due to the cavity-length stabi-
lization with good-cavity laser. To reduce the impact of
asynchronous cavity-length variation between two same
systems on the linewidth broadening of the clock laser,
the cavity-length stabilization was realized by utilizing
the phase locking technique of good-cavity laser  [62].
Experimentally, a 1470 nm CW active optical field with a
few tens of Hz linewidth, four orders of magnitude below
Page 12 of 17
the natural linewidth of 1.81 MHz , has been achieved at
room temperature.
Based on Cs four-level AOC, Shi et  al. proposed an
anti-resonant laser  [103], which is very different from
the classical AOC operating in cavity resonance condi-
tions. The lasing is realized when the atomic resonance
is between two adjacent cavity resonances, that is, the
cavity length equal to an odd multiple of a quarter wave-
length. The linewidth of anti-resonant laser is not broad-
ened compared to resonant laser, and its cavity-pulling
suppression characteristic is stronger. Using this anti-
resonant laser, the AOC can be extended from the cav-
ity resonance region to the anti-resonance region, further
improving the performance of the current active optical
frequency standard.
3.3.2 Optical lattice four‑level AOC
In order to solve the Doppler broadening problem in
the four-level AOC based on thermal atoms, the Peking
University, Guru Nanak Dev University, Beijing National
Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and the Indian
Physical Research Laboratory calculated the magic wave-
length corresponding to the 1470 nm Cs atom clock tran-
sition in detail  [53]. The optical lattice four-level AOC
scheme predicts output laser power up to 24 µW with a
mHz linewidth and a frequency uncertainty of 2 × 10−15 .
Singh et al. obtained the magic wavelengths between all
possible hyperfine levels of the transitions in Rb and Cs
atoms  [60], which will help build a more stable AOC.
They also gave the static dipole polarizabilities of Rb and
Cs atoms to validate the results. Using cold atoms impris-
oned in an optical lattice as the gain medium can reduce
the gain linewidth broadening. In principle, an active
optical frequency standard with a mHz linewidth, much
smaller than the clock transition natural linewidth, can
be obtained.
To sum up, the above two-, three-, and four-level AOC
schemes all have advantages and disadvantages. The two-
level structure is simple and easy to implement. However,
its performance is ultimately limited by the second-order
Doppler shift for the atomic beam and Faraday schemes,
the pulsed mode operation and the pW laser power for
the optical lattice scheme. Although the optical lat-
tice three-level scheme can achieve higher performance
using narrow linewidth quantum transition, it is not easy
to realize experimentally due to the small atom number
and weak output power. Moreover, the clock laser is ulti-
mately limited by light shift. Because the pumping laser
is separated from the clock laser, the four-level scheme
avoids the light shift caused by the pumping laser. More-
over, the output laser is a continuous laser with a higher
power which can reach approximately 100 µW , but
this scheme requires a higher atom number. The use of
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
thermal atom gas cell can meet the corresponding atom
number requirement. However, it is affected by the Dop-
pler effect, which leads to a broadening of the gain pro-
file. To further improve long-term stability, a cold-atom
scheme can be used in the four-level scheme.
4 Applications of AOC
The applications of active optical frequency standards
and clocks are wide ranging. Thanks to the development
of atomic clocks, time and frequency are the most pre-
cise physical quantities that can be measured currently.
As a result, tremendous advances in atomic clocks have
made it possible to measure other physical and techni-
cal quantities that can be traced back to frequency with
unprecedented precision. AOCs output an optical fre-
quency standard directly based on the principle of stimu-
lated radiation. Since it works in the bad-cavity region,
which means the atomic gain linewidth is narrower than
the cavity-mode linewidth, it can effectively solve the
cavity-length thermal noise problem. Due to the phase
coherence of collective dipole emission, the output laser
has excellent phase coherence, which can exceed the
quantum-limited linewidth determined by spontaneous
emission. Thanks to the superior characteristics of the
AOC, it can be used in a lot of fields, such as precision
measurement, physical theory verification, gravitational
detection, testing of quantum electrodynamics and so on.
4.1 Serves as a local oscillator for passive optical clocks
In order to detect the atomic transition spectrum with
mHz linewidth, the linewidth of the local oscillator laser
of a conventional passive optical clock must be narrow
enough. At present, the ultra-narrow linewidth laser
source is mainly obtained by the PDH technique. The use
of ultra-stable cavities leads to expensive costs, complex
systems, and environmental sensitivity. Moreover, it can-
not solve the cavity-length thermal noise problem essen-
tially. The narrow linewidth optical field based on the
AOC scheme provides an excellent option to solve this
problem. It can be used as the local oscillator laser for
passive optical clocks. At the same time, this optical field
has the absolute value characteristic of quantum transi-
tion frequency between atomic energy levels. Combined
with the optical frequency synthesizer, we can realize
the frequency comparison between the AOC and other
high-precision optical clocks, thus realizing the trans-
mission, comparison, and application of high-precision
active quantum frequency standards. In the above cases,
the AOC scheme will break through the technical bot-
tleneck of the passive optical clock stability currently,
which is limited by the cavity-length thermal noise. It can
be applied to the definition of the second, the quantiza-
tion of the International System of Units, the precision
Page 13 of 17
measurement of the gravitational potential, the verifica-
tion of general relativity, the detection of dark matter, and
other fields.
4.2 Application in precision spectroscopy
AOCs use the atomic stimulated radiation signal directly
as the clock laser, whose output linewidth is narrower
than the natural linewidth determined by spontane-
ous radiation. In terms of spectroscopy, it can be called
stimulated radiation laser spectrum. Theoretically, the
linewidth of this “stimulated radiation laser spectrum”
is 7–8 orders of magnitude narrower than the natu-
ral linewidth of atomic transition. Therefore, narrow
linewidth CW AOC can provide new principles and
methods for precision atomic spectroscopy. For exam-
ple, the Peking University has been able to accurately
measure the 1470  nm transition line (natural linewidth
∼ 1.81  MHz  [104]) to the Hz level using the Cs four-
level AOC scheme[62], which is 5–6 orders of magni-
tude more accurate than the previous 1470  nm spectral
line measurement. This method can also be univer-
sally extended to other alkali metal atoms, realizing the
high-precision measurement of transition spectral lines
with MHz natural linewidths, which is expected to be
upgraded to the measurement accuracy based on con-
ventional optical clocks. In this way, the new principle
and technology of the AOC can enrich the international
high-precision spectral measurements and improve the
measurement precision of atomic spectroscopy with
MHz natural linewidths.
4.3 Hyperfine‑structure measurement
In the work of Shi et  al.[105], the Cs atomic four-level
AOC can be used not only to realize narrow linewidth
active optical frequency standard but also to realize the
hyperfine level measurement of Cs 7P1/2 in combina-
tion with the Doppler effect. Since the AOC uses quan-
tum reference system stimulated radiation directly as
the clock transition signal, the output linewidth is much
smaller than the natural linewidth determined by spon-
taneous radiation, which can improve the measurement
accuracy of atomic hyperfine level structure constants.
The experimental principle is similar to that of the
Cs four-level AOC, where the 459 nm pumping laser is
locked to 6S1/2 (F = 4) → 7P1/2 (F ′ = 3&4) by modula-
tion transfer spectrum. The Cs atoms in the atomic gas
cell are thermal atoms with Doppler velocity distribu-
tion, and the Cs atoms in different velocity groups in
the cavity sense different pumping laser frequencies.
According to the selection rule, the Cs atoms located in
the two velocity groups of the 6S1/2 (F = 4)state can be
excited to 7P1/2 (F ′ = 3) and 7P1/2 (F ′ = 4) , respectively.
Cs atoms propagate with the pumping laser with velocity
Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
v1 = 459.3 nm × �ν/2 are sensed at pumping laser fre-
quency corresponding to 6S1/2 (F = 4) − 7P1/2 (F ′ = 3) .
Conversely, when Cs atoms counter-propagate with the
pumping laser with velocity v2 = −459.3 nm × �ν/2
are pumped to 7P1/2 (F ′ = 4) , where �ν is the hyper-
fine level spacing of the 7P1/2 state. Atoms pumped
to both 7P1/2 (F ′ = 3) and 7P1/2 (F ′ = 4) can drop to
7S1/2 (F ′′ = 4) through spontaneous radiation, creat-
ing a population inversion between 7S1/2 and 6P3/2 .
Eventually, the atoms of both velocity groups can out-
put 1470 nm bad-cavity clock laser corresponding to
7S1/2 (F ′′ = 4) − 6P3/2 (F ′′′ = 5) . The frequency differ-
ence f of the stimulated emission lights of atoms with
two velocity groups can be measured by optical het-
erodyne, where �f = 1469.9
459.3 m
nm
× �ν . The hyperfine level
spacing �ν of the 7P1/2 state can be deduced from the
experimentally measured f   , and then the magnetic
dipole hyperfine constant A of 7P1/2 state can be found
using �ν = A × 4.
The scheme uses one system for measurement, which
can eliminate common mode noise, but is limited by the
cavity-pulling effect. Considering the errors introduced
by the cavity-pulling effect, the measurement result is
f = 118.0347 ± 0.1827 MHz . Hence, the hyperfine level
spacing of the 7P1/2 state is 377.628 ± 0.584 MHz , and
the magnetic dipole hyperfine constant is 94.41(15) MHz .
Data comparison shows that this work’s result is in gen-
eral agreement with those obtained previously using
saturated absorption spectroscopy and two-photon reso-
nance spectroscopy.
4.4 Magnetometer based on bad‑cavity Raman AOC
superradiant laser
Most atomic magnetometers pass probe light through
atomic vapor and sense the response of the atom to
magnetic field by measuring the polarization rotation or
phase shift of the probe light. In Ref. [106], a Raman laser
magnetometer based on cold atom superradiant was
demonstrated, where the phase of stimulated radiation
was directly detected to identify the phase response of
atomic dipole to external magnetic field. This experiment
implemented a magnetometer using active mapping of
atomic phase to optical field phase that can operate in
both active and passive field sensing modes. Unlike typi-
cal good-cavity lasers, this laser can be operated in the
bad-cavity region. Since the atomic gain medium is the
primary reservoir of phase information, a passive oscilla-
tion mode is possible in this bad-cavity laser. The sensor
can dynamically selectively switch between active oscilla-
tion and passive Ramsey-like phase evolution. This flex-
ibility is achieved by controlling the optical radiation rate
of atomic dipole via the intensity of Raman dressing laser.
Page 14 of 17
Based on previous experiments, 106 87 Rb atoms
were imprisoned in a one-dimensional optical lattice
after laser cooling to 40 µK . The volume of the atom
cloud is roughly 2.1 × 10−3 mm3 using a low-finesse
( F = 710  ) resonant cavity. The atoms are continu-
ously pumped to 52 S1/2 (F = 2, mF = 2) and decay to
52 S1/2 (F = 1, mF = 1) through Raman transition. Using
these two magnetic field-sensitive states, the pseudospin
1/2 regime is formed. The states sensitive to the mag-
netic field are chosen instead of the cavity resonant fre-
quency, because the laser operates in bad-cavity region
with cavity-pulling suppression effect. Experimentally,
the wideband sensitivity at continuous active oscilla-
tion was measured, and the narrowband sensitivity in a
passive Ramsay-like mode was obtained by narrowband
detection using √the spin-echo technique. Its sensitivity
reaches 190 pT/ Hz at 1 kHz , and the effective detection
volume, which is the volume of the atomic cloud, is about
2 × 10−3 mm3 . Future experimental work will focus on
achieving truly continuous operation and realizing sensi-
tivity at the phase diffusion limit.
5 Summary and outlook
The AOC, which is based on the principle of stimulated
radiation, its output signal has excellent phase coher-
ence and can be used directly as an optical frequency
standard. Working in the bad-cavity region, where the
atomic gain linewidth is narrower than the cavity-mode
linewidth, the AOC can effectively solve the cavity-length
thermal noise problem in passive optical clocks. We
describe in detail the basic principles and characteristics
of AOC and classify AOC into two-, three-, and four-
level schemes according to the energy-level structure of
atoms for stimulated radiation. Currently, the two-level
scheme includes atomic beam, Faraday atomic filter, and
optical lattice type; the three-level scheme includes opti-
cal lattice, bad-cavity Raman, and ion trapping type; the
four-level scheme includes thermal atom and optical-
lattice-trapped cold atom type. It is worth noting that
there are schemes that combine atomic beam and optical
lattice to achieve CW AOCs. For different energy levels,
international research progress is introduced in detail,
including JILA, NIST research group, iqClock program
in the EU, Peking University, Vienna University of Tech-
nology, University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University,
and Physical Research Laboratory (India).
Almost 20 years have passed since AOC was proposed
in 2005. During this period, the AOC has extensively
developed. However, where should AOC goes in the
future? The basic direction is still to continue to improve
the inaccuracy and stability of the AOC to make it closer
to the theoretical expectation. As the performance of the
AOC improves, it is expected to achieve higher precision
 Zhang et al. AAPPS Bulletin (2023) 33:10
measurement in gravitational wave detection, general
relativity verification, searching for time variation of fun-
damental constants, detection of dark matter, and so on.
In addition to the above frontier scientific research, it
can also be applied to satellite navigation and position-
ing, gravitational potential detection, the provision of the
SI unit of time, etc. Several research groups are currently
working to solve the challenge of the pulsed output mode
of the AOC, viewing to achieve continuous clock laser.
Besides, the automation, miniaturization, and transport-
ability of the AOC are also worth exploring. Although
there are still many challenges, there is no doubt that
AOCs will make a more significant impact on science
and technology in the future.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Yiqiu Wang for many useful discussions about
the realization of active optical frequency standard. In particular, Jingbiao
Chen sincerely thanks Wang for his support for the idea of active optical clock
put forward as early as 2005. In order to encourage young researchers to
explore innovative ideas in depth, Wang specially wrote an article to support
the idea of active optical clock. His attitude to scientific research has always
inspired us to keep moving forward.
Authors’ contributions
J.C. proposed the concept of active optical clock. Under the guidance of T.S.,
J.Z. wrote the manuscript. J.M. and J.C. provided revisions. The authors read
and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (NSFC) (91436210), Innovation Program for Quantum Science and
Technology (2021ZD0303200), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(BX2021020), and Wenzhou Major Science and Technology Innovation Key
Project (ZG2020046).
Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
The authors give their consent for publication of this article.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Received: 25 December 2022 Accepted: 22 March 2023
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