Iodine-Stabilized 633 nm Diode Lasers for Metrology and Interferometry

For interferometric length measurements and other metrology applications 633 nm helium-neon lasers are still widely used. Here we present two 633 nm diode laser systems stabilized to iodine that can replace this old technique: a compact and robust system based on Doppler-broadened spectroscopy with uncertainty <; 10 ^-8 for interferometric length measurements and a high-end system with instability below 10 ^-11 based on saturated absorption using the NICE-OHMS method for realization of an optical frequency standard.