Measurement of the fine-structure constant as a test of the Standard Model.

Measurements of the fine-structure constant α require methods from across subfields and are thus powerful tests of the consistency of theory and experiment in physics. Using the recoil frequency of cesium-133 atoms in a matter-wave interferometer, we recorded the most accurate measurement of the fine-structure constant to date: α = 1/137.035999046(27) at 2.

Laser frequency stabilization by combining modulation transfer and frequency modulation spectroscopy.

We present a hybrid laser frequency stabilization method combining modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) and frequency modulation spectroscopy (FMS) for the cesium D transition. In a typical pump-probe setup, the error signal is a combination of the DC-coupled MTS error signal and the AC-coupled FMS error signal. This combines the long-term stability of the former with the high signal-to-noise ratio of the latter.