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Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements

Strontium optical lattice clocks at LNE-SYRTE

Chunyan Shi, Ulrich Eismann, Jean-Luc Robyr, S. Bize, Rodolphe Le Targat, Jérôme Lodewyck

Published Aug 1, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In optical lattice clocks, a large number of neutral atoms confined in an optical lattice are probed by a narrow linewidth laser. These clocks combine an excellent control of the systematic effects, while offering a record stability thanks to the large number of interrogated atoms. Here, we report on recent results obtained with two strontium optical lattice clocks at LNE-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris.

DOI
10.1109/cpem.2014.6898565

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In optical lattice clocks, a large number of neutral atoms confined in an optical lattice are probed by a narrow linewidth laser. These clocks combine an excellent control of the systematic effects, while offering a record stability thanks to the large number of interrogated atoms. Here, we report on recent results obtained with two strontium optical lattice clocks at LNE-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris.
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This thesis presents the latest achievements regarding the Sr optical lattice clock experiment at LNE-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris. After having described the general principles for optical lattice clocks and the operation of the clock in question, the emphasis is put on the features that have been added to the experiment since 2007. The most important new elements are an ultra-stable reference cavity for the clock laser, the development of a non-destructive detection technique, and the construction of a second Sr lattice clock. The ultra-stable cavity is constructed from a ULE spacer and fused silica mirrors and has shown a thermal noise floor at 6.5E-16, placing it among the best in the world. The non-destructive detection is effectuated by a phase measurement of a weak probe beam that traverses the atoms placed in one arm of a Mach-Zender interferometer. The non-destructive aspect enables a recycling of the atoms from cycle to cycle which consequently increases the duty cycle, allowing for an increase of the stability of the clock. With these new tools the frequency stability is expected to be 2.2E-16/tau^(1/2) for an optimized sequence. The most recent comparisons between the two Sr clocks reach an accuracy level of 1E-16 after about 1000 s, and this way we have been able to characterize lattice related frequency shifts with an unprecedented accuracy. The measurements ensure a control of lattice related effects at the 1E-18 level even for trap depths as large as 50 Er.
Results from the JILA optical lattice clock are presented. We report on our development of precision tools for the lattice clock, including a stabilized clock laser with sub-Hz linewidth, fs-comb based technology allowing accurate clock comparison in both the microwave and optical domains, and clock transfer over optical fiber in an urban environment. High resolution spectroscopy (Q > 2 times 1014) of lattice confined strontium atoms is used for both a high-performance optical clock and atomic structure measurements. The current accuracy and stability of the lattice clock are also discussed.
Clocks based on optical transitions in ions and atoms are quickly moving to the forefront of the frequency standards field mainly because of the high spec-tral resolution, and therefore the potential stability and accuracy, which can be achieved. In this thesis a new optical clock based on neutral atoms trapped in an optical lattice is presented, demonstrating spectroscopy of the clock transition free of any lineshape or accuracy degradation due to atomic motion. The system simu-lates a single trapped ion clock, but allows use of thousands of atoms for improved signal to noise ratio, and clock stability. High accuracy can also be achieved as the lattice can be designed to shift the energy of the two atomic clock states equally, such that the transition frequency is unchanged. Strontium is a natural candidate for such a clock as it offers an extremely narrow optical transition (∼1 mHz) based on atomic states which are very insensitive to external fields. The strontium level structure allows efficient laser cooling to 1 µK with diode laser sources, and a con-venient wavelength of 813 nm for the zero-differential Stark shift optical lattice. The strontium lattice clock system has allowed observation of high signal-to-noise
In 2013, for the first time ever, a many-atom optical lattice clock surpassed single ion clocks as the most stable, and accurate frequency standard in existence. Since this first result, continued improvements to the clock's accuracy and stability have been made. This work will focus on two of these major improvements. Firstly the frequency uncertainty was brought down to 2.5*10^-18, thanks in part to an accurate determination of the black body radiation shift, based on better characterization of the level structure of 87Sr. Secondly, a control modification will be demonstrated which provides 20% reduction in the standard deviation for the clock's frequency under differential measurement schemes. This represents a new record for clock accuracy, pushing performance towards the 10^-19 level.