Evaluation of the Sagnac-loop laser frequency stabilization to sub-Doppler spectral lines

Laser frequency stability locked to D2 transition of 85Rb at 780 nm by the Sagnac-loop stabilization scheme was evaluated using the heterodyne measurement with an optical frequency comb. This scheme does not require modulation and magnetic field to generate the feedback error signal. Therefore, the setup for the laser frequency stabilization is simple. Because of the mechanical stability of the Sagnac interferometer, the dispersion of atom transition, which is used as an error signal for feedback loop, can be observed with negligibly small effects of mechanical fluctuations. In the experiment, the Allan variance for relative frequency uncertainty was 2.6×10-12 over 64 s averaging.