Accuracy and stability of a calcium-stabilized dye laser by means of the optical Ramsey resonance

The frequency of a dye laser was stabilized to the optical Ramsey resonance of the Ca intercombination line (/sup 1/S/sub 0/-/sup 3/P/sub 1/ at 657.46 nm), with a quality factor of 10/sup 10/. The beat frequency between two laser beams, which are independently stabilized to Ramsey resonances of two different atomic beams, is measured in order to evaluate the performance of the Ca-stabilized dye laser. A frequency stability of 2*10/sup -12//sub tau //sup -1/2/ is obtained for 1 >