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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Optical frequency standards and clocks based on single trapped ions

Helen S. Margolis, G. P. Barwood, Kazumoto Hosaka, H. Arthur Klein, S.N. Lea, A. F. B. Stannard, Barney Walton, Stephen A. Webster, Patrick Robert Gill

Published Jan 1, 2006• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Forbidden transitions in single laser-cooled trapped ions provide highly stable and accurate references for optical frequency standards. This paper describes recent progress on strontium and ytterbium ion optical frequency standards under development at NPL.
DOI
10.1109/cleo.2006.4627843

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A number of laboratories are working towards developing optical frequency standards based on single trapped ions. The options are briefly reviewed. Recent progress using the singly ionised strontium system at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is outlined. A comparison of the frequency of the 2 S 1/2 – 2 D 5/2 transition at 674 nm in 88 Sr + , observed simultaneously in two traps, showed agreement at the 3 parts in 10 13 level. The possibility of cooling and probing 87 Sr + has recently been proposed because it offers a 674 nm transition between m F = 0 levels which is independent of magnetic field to first order. Trapping of 87 Sr + ions prepared using an oven containing an isotopically enriched strontium compound has been demonstrated at NPL.
Transitions between discrete energy levels in well-isolated atomic systems are highly reproducible and therefore make ideal references for highly accurate frequency standards or clocks. In particular, a single laser-cooled ion confined in a radiofrequency ion trap closely approximates the spectroscopic ideal of a particle at rest in a perturbation-free environment. Narrow optical transitions in such systems are therefore very promising for the realization of optical clocks with accuracy around 2 orders of magnitude higher than current microwave primary standards. In this paper the fundamental aspects, current performance and applications of trapped ion optical clocks are reviewed and the potential for future improvements is considered.
With the development of optical frequency comb and ultra-stable laser techniques, the performance of optical frequency standards has been improved significantly over the past decades. Single charged Yb ions have an alkali-like atomic structure and have ultra-long storage time. And the ytterbium single-ion optical frequency standards have two clock transitions (E2 & E3). In this paper, we will introduce the progress in the development of a highly accurate optical frequency standard based on single ytterbium-171 ion at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China.
The stability and accuracy of atomic microwave frequency standards (atomic clocks) have been improving at a rate exceeding one order of magnitude per decade for the past 30 years. This sustained improvement has been driven mainly by the many and diverse technological applications requiring highly stable and accurate time and frequency standards. There is no reason to suspect that this rate of progress is slowing. Over the last decade, research and development in atomic frequency standards has tended increasingly towards the use of atom and ion trapping technologies to approach the supposedly ideal unperturbed atomic frequency reference consisting of a single atom or ion either motionless or in free-fall in a perfect, field-free vacuum. This work has been facilitated by the relatively recent development of techniques whereby laser light is used to cool, confine and manipulate atoms or ions. This paper reviews the current status of atomic microwave frequency standards based on trapped atoms and trapped ions, and attempts to explain the motivation for their development and the principles of their operation, with particular emphasis on the physics of factors which limit their performance.