Abstract
This thesis describes the method of absorption spectroscopy of calcium ions to test our discharge chamber. The discharge chamber has been set up. It contains two conduction plates and a vacuum system in which the vacuum can reach 6.8×〖10〗^(-7) Torr. High-voltage DC and RF power source have been applied to the conduction plates. We attempt to use the 397 nm laser light to excite 40Ca+ ions from the ground state 4S1/2 to the excited state 4P1/2. The 397 nm light is produced by frequency doubling of the 795 nm laser. We use an enhancement cavity with a LBO crystal to increase the efficiency of frequency doubling. The 795 nm external cavity diode laser of power about 25 mW is sent into a tapered amplifier and the final output power of the 795 nm light is about 180 mW. As for the locking system, we demonstrate two laser frequency stabilization systems including the Hansch-Couillaud method and the Pound-Drever-Hall technique. The power of the blue light produced by SHG is about 40 micro watt. In the future, we plan to carry out the saturation absorption spectroscopy of calcium ions in a hollow cathode lamp. The frequency-stabilized laser at 397 nm will be used for laser cooling of trapped calcium ions.