Absolute optical frequency measurement of the cesiumD2line

Abstract
We have performed an absolute optical frequency measurement of the cesium D2 line at 352 THz (852 nm). This frequency is an important scaling parameter in atomic interferometry. The D2 line has been compared with the fourth harmonic of a methane stabilized He-Ne laser at 88.4THz (3.39μm). A frequency mismatch of 1.78THz between 4×88.4THz=354THz and the D2 line was bridged with an optical frequency comb generator. We find fD2=351725718.50(11)MHz for the hyperfine centroid, improving previous results by almost two orders of magnitude.