Study of a 87Rb Vapour Discriminator with Laser Pumping for a High Stability Onboard Frequency Standard

We report on our progress towards the realization of a high-performance laser-pumped rubidium vapour-cell atomic frequency standard for satellite navigation. The conversion process of the laser's FM-AM noise which degrades the SNR of a gas-cell discriminator with
⁸⁷
Rb and buffer gases was experimentally studied as a function of laser's intensity and its frequency using the double radio-optical resonance scheme (DROR) operating on two optical transitions: |2>-
²
P
_3/2
or |1>-
²
P
_3/2
. The new method is proposed and realized for fine tuning of a laser frequency to the value corresponding to the minimum value of FM-AM conversion noise. While using this method, the RFS breadboard is built.