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arXiv:1710.08706 · Applied Physics Express

Optically guided atom interferometer tuned to magic wavelength

Tomoya Akatsuka, Tadahiro TAKAHASHI, Hidetoshi Katori

Published Oct 24, 2017• 18 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate an atom interferometer operating on the 1 S 0 – 3 P 0 clock transition of 87 Sr atoms in a "magic" optical guide, where the light shift perturbations of the guiding potential are canceled. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, a Mach–Zehnder interferometer is set horizontally to map the acceleration introduced by the focused optical guide. This magic guide interferometer on the clock transition is applicable to atomic elements where magic wavelengths can be found. Possible applications of the magic guide interferometer, including a hollow-core fiber interferometer and gradiometer, are discussed.

DOI
10.7567/apex.10.112501

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We demonstrate an atom interferometer operating on the 1 S 0 – 3 P 0 clock transition of 87 Sr atoms in a "magic" optical guide, where the light shift perturbations of the guiding potential are canceled. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, a Mach–Zehnder interferometer is set horizontally to map the acceleration introduced by the focused optical guide. This magic guide interferometer on the clock transition is applicable to atomic elements where magic wavelengths can be found. Possible applications of the magic guide interferometer, including a hollow-core fiber interferometer and gradiometer, are discussed.
Optical clocks and atom interferometers provide complementary ways to measure time, motion and gravity. Combining these capabilities requires matter-wave beam splitters that manipulate different clock states in the same way, so that optical internal energy becomes a controlled degree of freedom rather than a source of systematic phase shifts. Here we realized a dual matter-wave interferometer operating simultaneously on the two states of the 88^{88}88Sr optical clock transition, 1S0^1S_01S0​ and 3P0^3P_03P0​. The interferometer is driven by Bragg pulses at the 813 nm magic wavelength, for which the two clock states experience the same optical coupling strength. This realizes a common matter-wave beam splitter for atoms whose internal energies differ by an optical excitation. With a sensitivity of 30 mrad, our measurement is consistent with a zero differential phase shift between the two clock-state Mach-Zehnder interferometers, translating to an absence of state-dependent acceleration in free fall at the level of 10−510^{-5}10−5. We further used the same interferometer to measure state-dependent optical dipole forces and determine a tune-out wavelength of the metastable 3P0^3P_03P0​ state to be 478.95(8) nm. These results establish magic-wavelength clock-state interferometry as a platform for differential force sensing, excited-state polarizability metrology and future quantum-clock tests of gravity.
We demonstrate a horizontal, linearly guided Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer in an optical waveguide. Intended as a proof-of-principle experiment, the interferometer utilizes a Bose-Einstein condensate in the magnetically insensitive $\left|F=1,{m}_{F}=0\right\ensuremath{\rangle}$ state of 87{}^{87}87Rb as an acceleration-sensitive test mass. We achieve a modest sensitivity to acceleration of $\ensuremath{\Delta}a=7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ m/s2{}^{2}2. Our fringe visibility is as high as 38% in this optically guided atom interferometer. We observe a time of flight in the waveguide of over 0.5 s, demonstrating the utility of our optical guide for future sensors.
We demonstrate the cancellation of the differential ac Stark shift of the microwave hyperfine clock transition in trapped 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms. Recent progress in metrology exploits so-called magic wavelengths, whereby an atomic ensemble can be trapped with laser light whose wavelength is chosen so that both levels of an optical atomic transition experience identical ac Stark shifts. Similar magic-wavelength techniques are not possible for the microwave hyperfine transitions in the alkali metals due to their simple electronic structure. We show, however, that ac Stark shift cancellation is indeed achievable for certain values of wavelength, polarization, and magnetic field. The cancellation comes at the expense of a small magnetic-field sensitivity. The technique demonstrated here has implications for experiments involving the precise control of optically trapped neutral atoms.
We demonstrate the cancellation of the differential ac Stark shift of the microwave hyperfine clock transition in trapped 87 Rb atoms. Recent progress in metrology exploits so-called “magic wavelengths,” whereby an atomic ensemble can be trapped with laser light whose wavelength is chosen so that both levels of an optical atomic transition experience identical ac Stark shifts. Similar magic-wavelength techniques are not possible for the microwave hyperfine transitions in the alkalis, due to their simple electronic structure. We show, however, that ac Stark shift cancellation is indeed achievable for certain values of wavelength, polarization, and magnetic field. The cancellation comes at the expense of a small magnetic-field sensitivity. The technique demonstrated here has implications for experiments involving the precise control of optically-trapped neutral atoms.
Optical lattice clocks combine the accuracy and stability required for next-generation frequency standards. At the heart of these clocks are carefully engineered optical lattices tuned to a wavelength where the differential AC Stark shift between ground and excited states vanishes—the so called ‘magic’ wavelength. To date, only alkaline-earth-like atoms utilizing clock transitions with total electronic angular momentum J=0 have successfully realized these magic wavelength optical lattices at the level necessary for state-of-the-art clock operation. In this article, we discuss two additional types of clock transitions utilizing states with J≠0, leveraging hyperfine structure to satisfy the necessary requirements for controlling lattice-induced light shifts. We propose realizing (i) clock transitions between same-parity clock states with total angular momentum F=0 and (ii) M1/E2 clock transitions between a state with F=0 and a second state with J=1/2, mF=0. We present atomic species which fulfill these requirements before giving a detailed discussion of both manganese and copper, demonstrating how these transitions provide the necessary suppression of fine structure-induced vector and tensor lattice light shifts for clock operations. Such realization of alternative optical lattice clocks promises to provide a rich variety of new atomic species for neutral atom clock operation, with applications from many-body physics to searches for new physics.
A microwave atomic clock scheme based on Rb and Cs atoms trapped in optical lattice with magic wavelength for clock transition is proposed. The ac Stark shift of clock transition due to trapping laser can be canceled at some specific laser wavelengths. Comparing with in fountain clock, the cavity related shifts, the collision shift, and the Doppler effect are eliminated or suppressed dramatically in atomic clock when the magic optical lattice is exploited. By carefully analyzing various sources of clock uncertainty, we conclude that a microwave atomic clock with an accuracy of better than 2×10−172\times10^{-17}2×10−17 is feasible, which is of the same accuracy as the expected best optical atomic clock.