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Physical Review A

Ultraviolet laser spectroscopy of neutral mercury in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Sinda Mejri, John J. McFerran, L. Yi, Yann Le Coq, S. Bize

Published Sep 14, 2011• 34 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present details on the ultraviolet lattice spectroscopy of the (6$s$${}^{2}$) ${}^{1}$$S$${}_{0}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}$ (6$s$6$p$) ${}^{3}$$P$${}_{0}$ transition in neutral mercury, specifically ${}^{199}$Hg. Mercury atoms are loaded into a one-dimensional vertically aligned optical lattice from a magneto-optical trap with an rms temperature of $\ensuremath{\sim}$60 $\ensuremath{\mu}$K. We describe aspects of the magneto-optical trapping, the lattice cavity design, and the techniques employed to trap and detect mercury in an optical lattice. The clock-line frequency dependence on lattice depth is measured at a range of lattice wavelengths. We confirm the magic wavelength to be 362.51(0.16) nm. Further observations to those reported by Yi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 073005 (2011)] are presented regarding the laser excitation of a Wannier-Stark ladder of states.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.032507

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We present details on the ultraviolet lattice spectroscopy of the (6s$${}^{2}) {}^{1}$$S$${}_{0}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow} (6sss6ppp) {}^{3}$$P$${}_{0} transition in neutral mercury, specifically 199{}^{199}199Hg. Mercury atoms are loaded into a one-dimensional vertically aligned optical lattice from a magneto-optical trap with an rms temperature of \ensuremath∼\ensuremath{\sim}\ensuremath∼60 \ensuremathμ\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremathμK. We describe aspects of the magneto-optical trapping, the lattice cavity design, and the techniques employed to trap and detect mercury in an optical lattice. The clock-line frequency dependence on lattice depth is measured at a range of lattice wavelengths. We confirm the magic wavelength to be 362.51(0.16) nm. Further observations to those reported by Yi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 073005 (2011)] are presented regarding the laser excitation of a Wannier-Stark ladder of states.
We report on the Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of the doubly forbidden (6s(2))(1)S(0)↔(6s6p)(3)P(0) transition in (199)Hg atoms confined to a vertical 1D optical lattice. With lattice trapping of ≲10(3) atoms and a 265.6 nm probe laser linked to the LNE-SYRTE primary frequency reference we have determined the center frequency of the transition for a range of lattice wavelengths and at two lattice trap depths. We find the Stark-free (magic) wavelength to be 362.53(0.21) nm-essential knowledge for future use of this line in a clock with anticipated 10(-18) range accuracy. We also present evidence of the laser excitation of a Wannier-Stark ladder of states in a lattice of well depth 10E(R).
We present an assessment of the (6s26{s}^{2}6s2) $^{1}S_{0}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}(6s6p)^{3}P_{0}$ clock transition frequency in 199Hg^{199}\mathrm{Hg}199Hg with an uncertainty reduction of nearly 3 orders of magnitude and demonstrate an atomic quality factor QQQ of $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{14}$. The 199Hg^{199}\mathrm{Hg}199Hg atoms are confined in a vertical lattice trap with light at the newly determined magic wavelength of $362.5697\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.0011\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nm}$ and at a lattice depth of 20ER20{E}_{R}20ER​. The atoms are loaded from a single-stage magneto-optical trap with cooling light at 253.7 nm. The high QQQ factor is obtained with an 80 ms Rabi pulse at 265.6 nm. We find the frequency of the clock transition to be $1\text{ }128\text{ }575\text{ }290\text{ }808\text{ }162.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}6.4(\mathrm{syst})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3(\mathrm{stat})\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{Hz}$ (i.e., with $\mathrm{\text{fractional uncertainty}}=5.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}$). Neither an atom number nor second order Zeeman dependence has yet been detected. Only three laser wavelengths are used for the cooling, lattice trapping, probing, and detection.
We are investigating the possibilities of using neutral mercury as a new species to realize a highly accurate atomic clock using the non-perturbing dipole lattice trapping scheme. Typically, accuracy below 10-17 is targeted, which would make neutral mercury an interesting candidate for a redefinition of the SI second. This paper presents our on-going work towards the realization of an optical lattice clock using neutral mercury. We will describe a 254 nm laser source delivering several hundreds of milliWatts at this wavelength with a suitably low frequency noise for laser cooling and magneto-optic trapping. We will describe our vacuum system for magneto-optic trap and report on the status of our work regarding magneto-optic trapping of mercury. We will also describe our clock laser at 266 nm.
We describe our work to develop an optical lattice clock using neutral mercury, which has the potential to reach accuracy near 1 part in 1018owing to its low sensitivity to black body radiation. We describe developments of our experimental setup to allow dipole lattice trapping and spectroscopy in the Lamb-Dicke regime. Specifically, we report on the implementation of a low noise imaging and detection system, on the characterization of the magneto-optic trap from which the dipole trap will be loaded, on the implementation of the dipole lattice trap itself, a challenging task given the wavelength and power requirements.
Due to its low sensitivity to blackbody radiation, neutral mercury is a good candidate for the most accurate optical lattice clock. Here we report the observation of cold mercury atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Because of the high vapor pressure at room temperature, the mercury source and the cold pump were cooled down to −40 °C and −70 °C, respectively, to keep the science chamber in an ultra-high vacuum of 6 × 10 −9 Pa. Limited by the power of the UV cooling laser, the one beam folded MOT configuration was adopted, and 1.5 × 10 5 Hg-202 atoms were observed by fluorescence detection.