High-Precision Spectroscopy with Counterpropagating Femtosecond Pulses

An experimental realization of high-precision direct frequency comb spectroscopy using counter-propagating femtosecond pulses on two-photon atomic transitions is presented. The Doppler broadened background signal, hampering precision spectroscopy with ultrashort pulses, is effectively eliminated with a simple pulse shaping method. As a result, all four 5S-7S two-photon transitions in a rubidium vapor are determined with both statistical and systematic uncertainties below 10(-11), which is an order of magnitude better than previous experiments on these transitions.