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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Frequency comparison of optical lattice clocks

Masao Takamoto, T. Takano, Hidetoshi Katori

Published Sep 8, 2011• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate the frequency comparison of two optical lattice clocks at the relative stabilities close to the quantum projection noise (QPN) limit of optical lattice clocks. This stable frequency comparison is accomplished by synchronous interrogations of two clocks by a common probe laser, which allows us to cancel out the probe laser's frequency noise. We perform the frequency comparison of a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice clock with spin-polarized fermions 87Sr and a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice clock with unity-occupation bosons 88Sr and achieve the Allan standard deviation of σγ(τ)=4×10-16 τ-1/2, which corresponds to the QPN limited stability for N=1,000 atoms and the spectrum linewidth γ=8 Hz. The relative stability reaches 1×10-17 with an averaging time of 1,600 s. Finally, we discuss the prospects to realize 10-18 fractional inaccuracies and the possible application of frequency comparison with synchronous interrogations to remote clocks' comparison for relativistic geodesy.

DOI
10.1117/12.896521

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We demonstrate the frequency comparison of two optical lattice clocks at the relative stabilities close to the quantum projection noise (QPN) limit of optical lattice clocks. This stable frequency comparison is accomplished by synchronous interrogations of two clocks by a common probe laser, which allows us to cancel out the probe laser's frequency noise. We perform the frequency comparison of a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice clock with spin-polarized fermions 87Sr and a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice clock with unity-occupation bosons 88Sr and achieve the Allan standard deviation of σγ(τ)=4×10-16 τ-1/2, which corresponds to the QPN limited stability for N=1,000 atoms and the spectrum linewidth γ=8 Hz. The relative stability reaches 1×10-17 with an averaging time of 1,600 s. Finally, we discuss the prospects to realize 10-18 fractional inaccuracies and the possible application of frequency comparison with synchronous interrogations to remote clocks' comparison for relativistic geodesy.
We consider designs of optical lattice clocks in view of the quantum statistics, relevant atomic spins, and atom-lattice interactions. The first two issues lead to two optimal constructions for the clock: a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice loaded with spin-polarized fermions and a 3D optical lattice loaded with bosons. By taking atomic multipolar interactions with the lattice fields into account, an "atomic motion insensitive" wavelength is proposed to provide a precise definition of the "magic wavelength." We then present a frequency comparison of these two optical lattice clocks: spin-polarized fermionic 87 Sr and bosonic 88 Sr prepared in 1D and 3D optical lattices, respectively. Synchronous interrogations of these two optical lattice clocks by the same probe laser allowed canceling out its frequency noise as a common mode noise to achieve a relative stability of 3 × 10 −17 for an averaging time of τ = 350 s. The scheme, therefore, provides us with a powerful means to investigate intrinsic uncertainty of the clocks regardless of the probe laser stability. We discuss prospects of the synchronous operation of the clocks on the measurement of the geoid height difference and on the search of constancy of fundamental constants.
We discuss two possible configurations for optical lattice clocks; a one-dimensional (1D) lattice loaded with spinpolarized fermions, and a three-dimensional (3D) lattice loaded with bosons. In the former scheme, collisional frequency shifts are suppressed by the quantum statistical property of identical fermions. This Pauli blocking of collisions is critically dependent on the degree of spin polarization of the fermionic atoms, which we carefully investigated in the Rabi excitation process of the clock transition. In the latter scheme, a single occupancy lattice suppresses bunching of bosons and collisional frequency shifts. We demonstrate a frequency comparison of these two optical lattice clocks based on fermionic 87Sr and bosonic 88Sr. Operating these clocks parallely has yielded a stability approaching 10−17. Such measurements are an important step to ascertain the lattice clocks' uncertainty at the 10−17 level and beyond.
We report on frequency comparison of two optical lattice clocks based on fermionic 87Sr trapped in 1D optical lattice and bosonic 88Sr in 3D one. We discuss that these two lattice clock configurations would optimize the lattice clocks' performance from the view point of the quantum statistical properties of interrogated atoms and optical lattice geometries. The frequency comparison of two optical clocks offers an important step to investigate the lattice clocks' uncertainty less than 10-15, where no working standard exists.
Many-particle optical lattice clocks have the potential for unprecedented measurement precision and stability due to their low quantum projection noise. However, this potential has so far never been realized because clock stability has been limited by frequency noise of optical local oscillators. By synchronously probing two 87Sr^{87}\mathrm{Sr}87Sr lattice systems using a laser with a thermal noise floor of $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}$, we remove classically correlated laser noise from the intercomparison, but this does not demonstrate independent clock performance. With an improved optical oscillator that has a $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ thermal noise floor, we demonstrate an order of magnitude improvement over the best reported stability of any independent clock, achieving a fractional instability of $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$ in 1000 s of averaging time for synchronous or asynchronous comparisons. This result is within a factor of 2 of the combined quantum projection noise limit for a 160 ms probe time with $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{3}$ atoms in each clock. We further demonstrate that even at this high precision, the overall systematic uncertainty of our clock is not limited by atomic interactions. For the second Sr clock, which has a cavity-enhanced lattice, the atomic-density-dependent frequency shift is evaluated to be $\ensuremath{-}3.11\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$ with an uncertainty of $8.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}19}$.
Optical atomic clocks have spurred a range of precision frequency comparison experiments and proposals including tests of general relativity, gravitational wave detection, and relativistic geodesy. Current measurements using optical atomic clocks are often limited by the coherence of the clock laser rather than the atomic samples used as a frequency reference. In order to overcome the performance limits imposed by clock laser coherence, we realize a multiplexed optical clock system where multiple spatially resolved ensembles each consisting of thousands of strontium atoms trapped in a 1D optical lattice function as separate atomic frequency references that can be simultaneously interrogated with a shared clock laser. This scheme allows us to make differential frequency comparisons with a quantum projection noise limited fractional instability of 9.7(4)×10−18/ √τ and a differential fractional uncertainty of 8.9×10−20 after 3.3 hours of averaging. We then use this system to perform a lab-based test of the gravitational redshift at the centimeter scale, where we measure a fractional frequency gradient of [−12.4±0.7stat ±2.5sys]×10−19/cm, consistent with the predicted value of 10.9×10−19/cm. Having demonstrated that our differential comparisons are no longer limited by the local oscillator, we turn to fundamental limits on atom–atom coherence. We perform a direct decay measurement of the natural lifetime of the excited clock state 3P0 in 87Sr, in which we use measurements of simultaneously loaded high and low density atomic ensembles and compare decay rates of 87Sr and 88Sr to help isolate natural lifetime decay from other population dynamics. We measure a lifetime of 167+79 −40, which is consistent with previously reported experimental and theoretical values. Lastly, we demonstrate a hyperfine-resolved readout scheme in 87Sr that converts depolarization errors during interrogation into erasure errors, extending coherence times between ensembles in our optical lattice clock up to 150s using spin-echo measurements. These results taken together demonstrate the advantages of differential clock measurements that aren’t limited by clock laser coherence and how to characterize and improve on the performance limits that arise in that regime.