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arXiv:1609.03667 · Chinese Physics Letters

Direct Laser Cooling Al${}^{+}$ Ion Optical Clocks

Jie Zhang, Ke Deng, Jun Luo, Ze-Huang Lu

Published May 1, 2017• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Al ion optical clock is a very promising optical frequency standard candidate due to its extremely small black-body radiation shift. It has been successfully demonstrated with the indirect cooled, quantum-logic-based spectroscopy technique. Its accuracy is limited by second-order Doppler shift, and its stability is limited by the number of ions that can be probed in quantum logic processing. We propose a direct laser cooling scheme of Al ion optical clocks where both the stability and accuracy of the clocks are greatly improved. In the proposed scheme, two Al traps are utilized. The first trap is used to trap a large number of Al ions to improve the stability of the clock laser, while the second trap is used to trap a single Al ion to provide the ultimate accuracy. Both traps are cooled with a continuous wave 167 nm laser. The expected clock laser stability can reach . For the second trap, in addition to 167 nm laser Doppler cooling, a second stage pulsed 234 nm two-photon cooling laser is utilized to further improve the accuracy of the clock laser. The total systematic uncertainty can be reduced to about . The proposed Al ion optical clock has the potential to become the most accurate and stable optical clock .

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/34/5/050601

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Direct Laser Cooling Al+{}^{+}+ Ion Optical Clocks
The Al ion optical clock is a very promising optical frequency standard candidate due to its extremely small black-body radiation shift. It has been successfully demonstrated with the indirect cooled, quantum-logic-based spectroscopy technique. Its accuracy is limited by second-order Doppler shift, and its stability is limited by the number of ions that can be probed in quantum logic processing. We propose a direct laser cooling scheme of Al ion optical clocks where both the stability and accuracy of the clocks are greatly improved. In the proposed scheme, two Al traps are utilized. The first trap is used to trap a large number of Al ions to improve the stability of the clock laser, while the second trap is used to trap a single Al ion to provide the ultimate accuracy. Both traps are cooled with a continuous wave 167 nm laser. The expected clock laser stability can reach . For the second trap, in addition to 167 nm laser Doppler cooling, a second stage pulsed 234 nm two-photon cooling laser is utilized to further improve the accuracy of the clock laser. The total systematic uncertainty can be reduced to about . The proposed Al ion optical clock has the potential to become the most accurate and stable optical clock .
Laser-cooled trapped atoms have long been recognized as potentially very accurate frequency standards for clocks. Ultimate accuracies of 10-18 to 10-19 appear possible, limited by the time-dilation of trapped ions that move at laser-cooled velocities. The Al+ ion is an attractive candidate for high accuracy, owing to its narrow electronic transition in the optical regime and low sensitivity to ambient field perturbations. Precision spectroscopy on Al+ is enabled by quantum information techniques. With Al+ “quantum-logic” clocks, the current accuracy of 8.6×10-18 has enabled a geo-potential-difference measurement that detected a height change of 37±17 cm due to the gravitational red-shift. We have also observed quantum coherence between two Al+ ions with a record Q-factor of 3.4×1016, and compared the Al+ resonance frequency to that of a single Hg+ ion to place limits on the temporal variation of the fine-structure constant.
With the advent of optical clocks featuring fractional frequency uncertainties on the order of 10−17 and below, new applications such as chronometric leveling with few-centimeter height resolution emerge. We are developing a transportable optical clock based on a single trapped aluminum ion, which is interrogated via quantum logic spectroscopy. We employ singly charged calcium as the logic ion for sympathetic cooling, state preparation, and readout. Here, we present a simple and compact physics and laser package for manipulation of 40Ca+. Important features are a segmented multilayer trap with separate loading and probing zones, a compact titanium vacuum chamber, a near-diffraction-limited imaging system with high numerical aperture based on a single biaspheric lens, and an all-in-fiber 40Ca+ repump laser system. We present preliminary estimates of the trap-induced frequency shifts on 27Al+, derived from measurements with a single calcium ion. The micromotion-induced second-order Doppler shift for 27Al+ has been determined to be δνEMMν=−0.4−0.3+0.4×10−18 and the black-body radiation shift is δνBBR/ν = (−4.0 ± 0.4) × 10−18. Moreover, heating rates of 30 (7) quanta per second at trap frequencies of ωrad,Ca+ ≈ 2π × 2.5 MHz (ωax,Ca+ ≈ 2π × 1.5 MHz) in radial (axial) direction have been measured, enabling interrogation times of a few hundreds of milliseconds.
With the advent of optical clocks featuring fractional frequency uncertainties on the order of 10-17 and below, new applications such as chronometric leveling with few-centimeter height resolution emerge. We are developing a transportable optical clock based on a single trapped aluminum ion, which is interrogated via quantum logic spectroscopy. We employ singly charged calcium as the logic ion for sympathetic cooling, state preparation, and readout. Here, we present a simple and compact physics and laser package for manipulation of 40Ca+. Important features are a segmented multilayer trap with separate loading and probing zones, a compact titanium vacuum chamber, a near-diffraction-limited imaging system with high numerical aperture based on a single biaspheric lens, and an all-in-fiber 40Ca+ repump laser system. We present preliminary estimates of the trap-induced frequency shifts on 27Al+, derived from measurements with a single calcium ion. The micromotion-induced second-order Doppler shift for 27Al+ has been determined to be δνEMMν=-0.4-0.3 +0.4×10-18 and the black-body radiation shift is δνBBR/ν = (-4.0 ± 0.4) × 10-18. Moreover, heating rates of 30 (7) quanta per second at trap frequencies of ωrad,Ca+ ≈ 2π × 2.5 MHz (ωax,Ca+ ≈ 2π × 1.5 MHz) in radial (axial) direction have been measured, enabling interrogation times of a few hundreds of milliseconds.
We report a single-ion optical atomic clock with a fractional frequency uncertainty of 5.5×10^{-19} and fractional frequency stability of 3.5×10^{-16}/sqrt[τ/s], based on quantum logic spectroscopy of a single ^{27}Al^{+} ion. A cotrapped ^{25}Mg^{+} ion provides sympathetic cooling and quantum logic readout of the ^{27}Al^{+}^{1}S_{0}↔^{3}P_{0} clock transition. A Rabi probe duration of 1 s, enabled by laser stability transfer from a remote cryogenic silicon cavity across a 3.6 km fiber link, results in a threefold reduction in instability compared to previous ^{27}Al^{+} clocks. Systematic uncertainties are lower due to an improved ion trap electrical design, which reduces excess micromotion, and a new vacuum system, which reduces collisional shifts. We also perform a direction-sensitive measurement of the ac magnetic field due to the rf ion trap, eliminating systematic uncertainty due to field orientation.
This paper presents an overview of the Al+ optical clock, which is based on quantum logic spectroscopy and provides the most accurate frequency measurement ever reported. Dehmelt’s original design of the optical clock was not realized due to the difficulty in generating the vacuum ultraviolet radiation necessary for laser cooling and the ion’s quantum state detection. The problem was solved by sympathetically cooling the ion with another ion and detecting the quantum state using the ancillary ion. The method, which is called quantum logic spectroscopy, comes from the use of phonon qubit as a bus of the quantum state of the ions in the Cirac-Zoller ion-trap quantum computer. The clock can be simplifi ed by introducing direct excitation by vacuum ultraviolet radiation or another ion species. The clock’s stability will be improved more than ten times by a middle-term stabilized clock laser.
We describe an optical atomic clock based on quantum-logic spectroscopy of the ^{1}S_{0}↔^{3}P_{0} transition in ^{27}Al^{+} with a systematic uncertainty of 9.4×10^{-19} and a frequency stability of 1.2×10^{-15}/sqrt[τ]. A ^{25}Mg^{+} ion is simultaneously trapped with the ^{27}Al^{+} ion and used for sympathetic cooling and state readout. Improvements in a new trap have led to reduced secular motion heating, compared to previous ^{27}Al^{+} clocks, enabling clock operation with ion secular motion near the three-dimensional ground state. Operating the clock with a lower trap drive frequency has reduced excess micromotion compared to previous ^{27}Al^{+} clocks. Both of these improvements have led to a reduced time-dilation shift uncertainty. Other systematic uncertainties including those due to blackbody radiation and the second-order Zeeman effect have also been reduced.