First-order thermal insensitivity of the frequency of a narrow spectral hole in a crystal

The possibility of generating a narrow spectral hole in a rare-earth doped crystal opens the gateway to a variety of applications, one of which is the realization of an ultrastable laser. As this is achieved by locking in a prestabilized laser to the narrow hole, a prerequisite is the elimination of frequency fluctuations of the spectral hole. One potential source of such fluctuations can arise from temperature instabilities. However, when the crystal is surrounded by a buffer gas subject to the same temperature as the crystal, the effect of temperature-induced pressure changes may be used to counterbalance the direct effect of temperature fluctuations. For a particular pressure, it is indeed possible to identify a temperature for which the spectral hole resonant frequency is independent of the first-order thermal fluctuations. Here, we measure frequency shifts as a function of temperature for different values of the pressure of the surrounding buffer gas, and identify the "magic" environment within which the spectral hole is largely insensitive to temperature.