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International Conference on Space Optics (ICSO)

Trapped strontium ion optical clock

G. P. Barwood, Patrick Robert Gill, Hugh A. Klein, Kazumoto Hosaka, Guozheng Huang, S.N. Lea, Helen S. Margolis, K. Szymaniec, Barney Walton

Published Nov 21, 2017• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Increasingly stringent demands on atomic timekeeping, driven by applications such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), communications, and very-long baseline interferometry (VBLI) radio astronomy, have motivated the development of improved time and frequency standards. There are many scientific applications of such devices in space.

DOI
10.1117/12.2308177

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Increasingly stringent demands on atomic timekeeping, driven by applications such as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), communications, and very-long baseline interferometry (VBLI) radio astronomy, have motivated the development of improved time and frequency standards. There are many scientific applications of such devices in space.
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Abstract The primary technology for high accuracy position, navigation and timing (PNT) capability worldwide is currently provided by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The vulnerability of GNSS to intentional interference, clock component failure or extreme space weather is increasingly pointing to the need for alternative independent navigation and timing solutions to maintain critical national infrastructures, defence, security, commerce and logistics. The availability of low size, weight and power (SWaP) portable atomic clock technology with resilience and extended holdover times for use both in space and terrestrially is now increasingly urgent. In this paper, we report on progress in the development of compact optical clocks that offer the capability to out-perform existing commercial microwave atomic clock systems. We discuss designs for a compact transportable cold trapped strontium ion optical clock with both a low SWaP design and high accuracy that can address extended holdover for future navigation and timing requirements. We describe how key sub-systems of an optical atomic clock, namely the single ion trap physics package and multi-wavelength dual-axis cubic cavity clock control unit have been redesigned to reduce SWaP. The optical cavity is needed to frequency stabilise the lasers for laser cooling and state preparation as well as the clock laser for interrogating the ion’s clock transition. We describe the results of finite element analysis (FEA) to model the electrical and thermal behaviour of a compact ion trap design. We also consider the design space for small cubic optical cavities, investigating the possible limits for achieving a minimal SWaP for the system.
Research progress of Al+^{+}+ ion optical frequency standard based on quantum logic technique
Optical atomic clocks have many applications in the definition of the time and the length, measurement of fundamental constants and their potential variations with time, testing of relativity, very long baseline interferometry, geodesy, and global navigation satellite systems. An optical clock consists of three parts: ultra-stable laser, frequency comb and trapped ions or atoms. The accuracy of optical atomic clocks can be affected by Doppler shift, Zeeman shift, Stark shift, collision shift, blackbody radiation (BBR) shift, etc. The BBR shift is very difficult to be characterized and controlled. Among all optical atomic clocks under current development, Al+^++ optical clock has the smallest BBR shift at a level of 4.0×10−194.0\times10^{-19}4.0×10−19, therefore the Al+^++ is a promising ion for high-accuracy optical frequency standard. In this article we give a review on the three parts of optical frequency standards, the basic working principle of Al+^++ ion optical frequency standard based on quantum logic technique, and research progress of an Al+^++ optical clock under development at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.