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arXiv:2105.12673 · Physical Review Letters

Active Frequency Measurement on Superradiant Strontium Clock Transitions

Yuan Zhang, Chongxin Shan, Klaus Mølmer

Published Jan 7, 2022• 15 citations

Abstract

We develop a stochastic mean-field theory to describe active frequency measurements of pulsed superradiant emission, studied in a recent experiment with strontium-87 atoms trapped in an optical lattice inside an optical cavity [M. Norcia et al., Phys. Rev. X 8, 021036 (2018)PRXHAE2160-330810.1103/PhysRevX.8.021036]. Our theory reveals the intriguing dynamics of atomic ensembles with multiple transition frequencies, and it reproduces the superradiant beats signal, noisy power spectra, and frequency uncertainty in remarkable agreement with the experiments. Moreover, using longer superradiant pulses of similar strength and shortening the experimental duty cycle, we predict a short-term frequency uncertainty 7×10^{-17}/sqrt[τ/s], which makes active frequency measurements with superradiant transitions comparable with the record performance of current frequency standards [M. Schioppo et al., Nat. Photonics 11, 48 (2017)NPAHBY1749-488510.1038/nphoton.2016.231]. Our theory combines cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum measurement theory, and it can be readily applied to explore conditional quantum dynamics and describe frequency measurements for other processes such as steady-state superradiance and superradiant Raman lasing.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.128.013604

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Superradiant emission from long-lived excited states of an atomic ensemble confined in an optical cavity constitutes a practical source of light with narrow linewidth. In the pulsed regime, however, superradiance implies rapid emission and a broadening of the spectrum. Recent experiments have demonstrated constructive and destructive interference of superradiant emission by different strontium atomic transitions. In this article, we show that by modulating the atomic transition frequencies with a magnetic field, it is possible to control the release of the atomic excitation energy as a prolonged pulse or a train of superradiant pulses. By simulations, we show that heterodyne detection of the prolonged superradiance shows extremely sharp spectral features, which leads to significantly reduced frequency uncertainty and fluctuation.

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