Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1407.1381 · Physical Review A

Quantum engineering of atomic phase shifts in optical clocks

T. Zanon-Willette, Sylvain Almonacil, Emeric de Clercq, Andrew D. Ludlow, E. Arimondo

Published Nov 24, 2014• 18 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum engineering of time-separated Raman laser pulses in three-level systems is presented to produce an ultranarrow optical transition in bosonic alkali-earth clocks free from light shifts and with a significantly reduced sensitivity to laser parameter fluctuations. Based on a quantum artificial complex wave-function analytical model and supported by a full density-matrix simulation including a possible residual effect of spontaneous emission from the intermediate state, atomic phase shifts associated with Ramsey and hyper-Ramsey two-photon spectroscopy in optical clocks are derived. Various common-mode Raman frequency detunings are found in which the frequency shifts from off-resonant states are canceled, while their uncertainties at the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$ level of accuracy are strongly reduced.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.053427

Related papers

Probe light-shift elimination in generalized hyper-Ramsey quantum clocks

T. Zanon-Willette, Emeric de Clercq, E. Arimondo

We present an interrogation scheme for the next generation of quantum clocks to suppress frequency shifts induced by laser probing fields that are themselves based on generalized hyper-Ramsey resonances. Sequences of composite laser pulses with a specific selection of phases, frequency detunings, and durations are combined to generate a very efficient and robust frequency locking signal with an almost perfect elimination of the light shift from off-resonant states and to decouple the unperturbed frequency measurement from the laser's intensity. The frequency lock point generated from synthesized error signals using either $\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ or $3\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ laser phase steps during the intermediate pulse is tightly protected against large laser-pulse area variations and errors in potentially applied frequency shift compensations. Quantum clocks based on weakly allowed or completely forbidden optical transitions in atoms, ions, molecules, and nuclei will benefit from these hyperstable laser frequency stabilization schemes to reach relative accuracies below the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$ level.

arXiv:1511.04847•Physical Review A•Apr 18, 2016•32 citations

Cancellation of Stark Shifts in Optical Lattice Clocks by Use of Pulsed Raman and Electromagnetically Induced Transparency Techniques

T. Zanon-Willette, Andrew D. Ludlow, Sebastian Blatt +3 more

We propose a combination of electromagnetically induced transparency-Raman and pulsed spectroscopy techniques to accurately cancel frequency shifts arising from electromagnetically induced transparency fields in forbidden optical clock transitions of alkaline earth atoms. At appropriate detunings, time-separated laser pulses are designed to trap atoms in coherent superpositions while eliminating off-resonance ac Stark contributions, achieving efficient population transfer up to 60% with inaccuracy <10(-17). Results from the wave-function formalism are confirmed by the density matrix approach.

arXiv:physics/0610098•Physical Review Letters•Dec 7, 2006•49 citations

SU(2) hyper-clocks: Quantum engineering of spinor interferences for time and frequency metrology

T. Zanon-Willette, David Wilkowski, R. Lefèvre +2 more

In 1949, Ramsey's method [Phys. Rev. 76, 996 (1949)] of separated oscillating fields was elaborated boosting over many decades metrological performances of atomic clocks and becoming the standard technique for very high-precision spectroscopic measurements. A generalization of this interferometric method is presented replacing the two single coherent excitations by arbitrary composite laser pulses. The rotation of the state vector of a two-level system under the effect of a single pulse is described using the Pauli matrices basis of the SU(2) group. It is then generalized to multiple excitation pulses by a recursive Euler-Rodrigues-Gibbs algorithm describing a composition of rotations with different rotation axes. A general analytical formula for the phase shift associated with the clock's interferometric signal is derived. As illustrations, hyper-clocks based on three-pulse and five-pulse interrogation protocols are studied and shown to exhibit nonlinear cubic and quintic sensitivities to residual probe-induced light shifts. The presented formalism is well suited to optimize composite phase shifts produced by tailored quantum algorithms in order to design a new generation of optical frequency standards and robust engineering control of atomic interferences in atomic, molecular, and optical physics with cold matter and antimatter.

arXiv:2109.13571•Physical Review Research•May 13, 2022•2 citations

Composite laser-pulses spectroscopy for high-accuracy optical clocks: a review of recent progress and perspectives

T. Zanon-Willette, R. Lefèvre, Rémi Metzdorff +7 more

Probing an atomic resonance without disturbing it is an ubiquitous issue in physics. This problem is critical in high-accuracy spectroscopy or for the next generation of atomic optical clocks. Ultra-high resolution frequency metrology requires sophisticated interrogation schemes and robust protocols handling pulse length errors and residual frequency detuning offsets. This review reports recent progress and perspective in such schemes, using sequences of composite laser-pulses tailored in pulse duration, frequency and phase, inspired by NMR techniques and quantum information processing. After a short presentation of Rabi technique and NMR-like composite pulses allowing efficient compensation of electromagnetic field perturbations to achieve robust population transfers, composite laser-pulses are investigated within Ramsey's method of separated oscillating fields in order to generate non-linear compensation of probe-induced frequency shifts. Laser-pulses protocols such as hyper-Ramsey, modified hyper-Ramsey, generalized hyper-Ramsey and hybrid schemes as auto-balanced Ramsey spectroscopy are reviewed. These techniques provide excellent protection against both probe induced light-shift perturbations and laser intensity variations. More sophisticated schemes generating synthetic frequency-shifts are presented. They allow to reduce or completely eliminate imperfect correction of probe-induced frequency-shifts even in presence of decoherence due to the laser line-width. Finally, two universal protocols are presented which provide complete elimination of probe-induced frequency shifts in the general case where both decoherence and relaxation dissipation effects are present by using exact analytic expressions for phase-shifts and the clock frequency detuning. These techniques might be applied to atomic, molecular and nuclear frequency metrology, Ramsey-type mass spectrometry as well as precision spectroscopy.

arXiv:1806.04639•Reports on Progress in Physics•Jun 4, 2018•54 citations

Generalized hyper-Ramsey-Bordé matter-wave interferometry: Quantum engineering of robust atomic sensors with composite pulses

T. Zanon-Willette, David Wilkowski, R. Lefèvre +2 more

A new class of atomic interferences using ultranarrow optical transitions are pushing quantum engineering control to a very high level of precision for the next generation of sensors and quantum gate operations. In such context, we propose a new quantum engineering approach to Ramsey-Bord\'e interferometry introducing multiple composite laser pulses with tailored pulse duration, Rabi field amplitude, frequency detuning and laser phase step. We explore quantum metrology with hyper-Ramsey and hyper-Hahn-Ramsey clocks below the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$ level of fractional accuracy by fine-tuning control of light excitation parameters leading to spinor interferences protected against light-shift coupled to laser-probe field variation. We review cooperative composite pulse protocols to generate robust Ramsey-Bord\'e, Mach-Zehnder, and double-loop atomic sensors shielded against measurement distortion related to Doppler and light shifts coupled to pulse area errors. Fault-tolerant autobalanced hyperinterferometers are introduced eliminating several technical laser pulse defects that can occur during the entire probing interrogation protocol. Quantum sensors with composite pulses and ultracold atomic sources should offer a new level of high accuracy in the detection of acceleration and rotation inducing phase shifts, a strong improvement in tests of fundamental physics with hyperclocks while paving the way to a new conception of atomic interferometers tracking space-time gravitational waves with very high sensitivity.

arXiv:2202.06296•Physical Review Research•Jun 17, 2022•7 citations

Hyper-Ramsey spectroscopy of optical clock transitions

Valeriy I. Yudin, А. В. Тайченачев, Chris W. Oates +6 more

We present nonstandard optical Ramsey schemes that use pulses individually tailored in duration, phase, and frequency to cancel spurious frequency shifts related to the excitation itself. In particular, the field shifts and their uncertainties can be radically suppressed (by two to four orders of magnitude) in comparison with the usual Ramsey method (using two equal pulses) as well as with single-pulse Rabi spectroscopy. Atom interferometers and optical clocks based on two-photon transitions, heavily forbidden transitions, or magnetically induced spectroscopy could significantly benefit from this method. In the latter case, these frequency shifts can be suppressed considerably below a fractional level of $10$${}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$. Moreover, our approach opens the door for high-precision optical clocks based on direct frequency comb spectroscopy.

arXiv:0910.5948•Physical Review A•Jul 22, 2010•139 citations
Quantum engineering of time-separated Raman laser pulses in three-level systems is presented to produce an ultranarrow optical transition in bosonic alkali-earth clocks free from light shifts and with a significantly reduced sensitivity to laser parameter fluctuations. Based on a quantum artificial complex wave-function analytical model and supported by a full density-matrix simulation including a possible residual effect of spontaneous emission from the intermediate state, atomic phase shifts associated with Ramsey and hyper-Ramsey two-photon spectroscopy in optical clocks are derived. Various common-mode Raman frequency detunings are found in which the frequency shifts from off-resonant states are canceled, while their uncertainties at the 10\ensuremath−18{10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}10\ensuremath−18 level of accuracy are strongly reduced.
We present an interrogation scheme for the next generation of quantum clocks to suppress frequency shifts induced by laser probing fields that are themselves based on generalized hyper-Ramsey resonances. Sequences of composite laser pulses with a specific selection of phases, frequency detunings, and durations are combined to generate a very efficient and robust frequency locking signal with an almost perfect elimination of the light shift from off-resonant states and to decouple the unperturbed frequency measurement from the laser's intensity. The frequency lock point generated from synthesized error signals using either $\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ or $3\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ laser phase steps during the intermediate pulse is tightly protected against large laser-pulse area variations and errors in potentially applied frequency shift compensations. Quantum clocks based on weakly allowed or completely forbidden optical transitions in atoms, ions, molecules, and nuclei will benefit from these hyperstable laser frequency stabilization schemes to reach relative accuracies below the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$ level.
We propose a combination of electromagnetically induced transparency-Raman and pulsed spectroscopy techniques to accurately cancel frequency shifts arising from electromagnetically induced transparency fields in forbidden optical clock transitions of alkaline earth atoms. At appropriate detunings, time-separated laser pulses are designed to trap atoms in coherent superpositions while eliminating off-resonance ac Stark contributions, achieving efficient population transfer up to 60% with inaccuracy <10(-17). Results from the wave-function formalism are confirmed by the density matrix approach.
In 1949, Ramsey's method [Phys. Rev. 76, 996 (1949)] of separated oscillating fields was elaborated boosting over many decades metrological performances of atomic clocks and becoming the standard technique for very high-precision spectroscopic measurements. A generalization of this interferometric method is presented replacing the two single coherent excitations by arbitrary composite laser pulses. The rotation of the state vector of a two-level system under the effect of a single pulse is described using the Pauli matrices basis of the SU(2) group. It is then generalized to multiple excitation pulses by a recursive Euler-Rodrigues-Gibbs algorithm describing a composition of rotations with different rotation axes. A general analytical formula for the phase shift associated with the clock's interferometric signal is derived. As illustrations, hyper-clocks based on three-pulse and five-pulse interrogation protocols are studied and shown to exhibit nonlinear cubic and quintic sensitivities to residual probe-induced light shifts. The presented formalism is well suited to optimize composite phase shifts produced by tailored quantum algorithms in order to design a new generation of optical frequency standards and robust engineering control of atomic interferences in atomic, molecular, and optical physics with cold matter and antimatter.
Probing an atomic resonance without disturbing it is an ubiquitous issue in physics. This problem is critical in high-accuracy spectroscopy or for the next generation of atomic optical clocks. Ultra-high resolution frequency metrology requires sophisticated interrogation schemes and robust protocols handling pulse length errors and residual frequency detuning offsets. This review reports recent progress and perspective in such schemes, using sequences of composite laser-pulses tailored in pulse duration, frequency and phase, inspired by NMR techniques and quantum information processing. After a short presentation of Rabi technique and NMR-like composite pulses allowing efficient compensation of electromagnetic field perturbations to achieve robust population transfers, composite laser-pulses are investigated within Ramsey's method of separated oscillating fields in order to generate non-linear compensation of probe-induced frequency shifts. Laser-pulses protocols such as hyper-Ramsey, modified hyper-Ramsey, generalized hyper-Ramsey and hybrid schemes as auto-balanced Ramsey spectroscopy are reviewed. These techniques provide excellent protection against both probe induced light-shift perturbations and laser intensity variations. More sophisticated schemes generating synthetic frequency-shifts are presented. They allow to reduce or completely eliminate imperfect correction of probe-induced frequency-shifts even in presence of decoherence due to the laser line-width. Finally, two universal protocols are presented which provide complete elimination of probe-induced frequency shifts in the general case where both decoherence and relaxation dissipation effects are present by using exact analytic expressions for phase-shifts and the clock frequency detuning. These techniques might be applied to atomic, molecular and nuclear frequency metrology, Ramsey-type mass spectrometry as well as precision spectroscopy.
A new class of atomic interferences using ultranarrow optical transitions are pushing quantum engineering control to a very high level of precision for the next generation of sensors and quantum gate operations. In such context, we propose a new quantum engineering approach to Ramsey-Bord\'e interferometry introducing multiple composite laser pulses with tailored pulse duration, Rabi field amplitude, frequency detuning and laser phase step. We explore quantum metrology with hyper-Ramsey and hyper-Hahn-Ramsey clocks below the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}18}$ level of fractional accuracy by fine-tuning control of light excitation parameters leading to spinor interferences protected against light-shift coupled to laser-probe field variation. We review cooperative composite pulse protocols to generate robust Ramsey-Bord\'e, Mach-Zehnder, and double-loop atomic sensors shielded against measurement distortion related to Doppler and light shifts coupled to pulse area errors. Fault-tolerant autobalanced hyperinterferometers are introduced eliminating several technical laser pulse defects that can occur during the entire probing interrogation protocol. Quantum sensors with composite pulses and ultracold atomic sources should offer a new level of high accuracy in the detection of acceleration and rotation inducing phase shifts, a strong improvement in tests of fundamental physics with hyperclocks while paving the way to a new conception of atomic interferometers tracking space-time gravitational waves with very high sensitivity.
We present nonstandard optical Ramsey schemes that use pulses individually tailored in duration, phase, and frequency to cancel spurious frequency shifts related to the excitation itself. In particular, the field shifts and their uncertainties can be radically suppressed (by two to four orders of magnitude) in comparison with the usual Ramsey method (using two equal pulses) as well as with single-pulse Rabi spectroscopy. Atom interferometers and optical clocks based on two-photon transitions, heavily forbidden transitions, or magnetically induced spectroscopy could significantly benefit from this method. In the latter case, these frequency shifts can be suppressed considerably below a fractional level of 101010${}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$. Moreover, our approach opens the door for high-precision optical clocks based on direct frequency comb spectroscopy.