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Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)

All-optical atomic clock on a chip: progress report

Dmitry Strekalov, Anatoliy A. Savchenkov, Andrey B. Matsko, Nan Yu, Lute Maleki

Published Apr 12, 2005• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on progress in the development of atomic clocks based on an opto-electronic oscillator stabilized with an atomic cell. For a demonstration setup, the short term (1 second) stability of 5/spl middot/10/sup -10/ and the long term (100 seconds) stability of 6/spl middot/10/sup -11/ are reported. Also discussed is the physics of a low power electro-optical modulator utilizing whispering gallery modes in a segnetoelectric disk. This modulator is an important element of the designed clock. It is shown that our approach allows for multi-function application of the designed clocks, that can also operate in the magnetometer regime.

DOI
10.1109/freq.2004.1418436

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We report on progress in the development of atomic clocks based on an opto-electronic oscillator stabilized with an atomic cell. For a demonstration setup, the short term (1 second) stability of 5/spl middot/10/sup -10/ and the long term (100 seconds) stability of 6/spl middot/10/sup -11/ are reported. Also discussed is the physics of a low power electro-optical modulator utilizing whispering gallery modes in a segnetoelectric disk. This modulator is an important element of the designed clock. It is shown that our approach allows for multi-function application of the designed clocks, that can also operate in the magnetometer regime.
We describe a novel architecture for realization of a miniature all-optical atomic clock. We show theoretically that a hyperparametric oscillator based on a whispering gallery mode resonator can be used as a miniature frequency divider for the clock. Such a frequency divider allows for transferring the long term frequency stability from the optical frequency domain to the RF frequency domain. We present some details for the clock that utilizes the thermally stable isoclinic point of the inhomogeneously broadened D1line of87Rb for frequency stabilization, and report on progress towards its experimental realization.
We report on progress in the development of an All-Optical Integrated Micro-Primary Atomic Clock (AO-IMPAC). The operattion of the clock is based on an inhomogeneously broadened rubidium optical transition used for stabilization of a Kerr optical frequency comb generated in a high-Q whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonator. We have demonstrated the initial operation of this clock built in a physics package with dimensions 5 × 6 × 1.2 cm. The clock's long term stability approaches 3 × 10-13at about 2 × 104s integration time. The measured value is limited by the noise floor of the measurement setup.
This paper presents a novel architecture for a high performance atomic clock based on the use of miniature optical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators. Following the approach of stabilizing a laser local oscillator to an optical transition in an atom or ion, as used in advanced atomic clock, a semiconductor laser is used for stabilization to the D1 line of Rb atoms, held in a small vapor cell. The laser is self-injection locked to a WGM resonator to reduce its linewidth. To produce the RF output of the clock, a second WGM resonator excited with a second cw semiconductor laser produces an optical frequency comb that is demodulated on a fast photodiode. Locking the resonator that generates the frequency comb to the laser stabilized to the Rb transition transfers the stability of the atomic transition to the RF output of the clock. In this way, a miniature all-optical atomic clock is realized. Details of the operation of the clock and application of the architecture to other atomic systems, such as a ytterbium ion, will be described.
Abstract Optical atomic clocks with compact size, reduced weight and low power consumption have broad out-of-the-lab applications such as satellite-based geo-positioning and communication engineering. Here, we propose an active optical microclock based on the lattice-trapped atoms evanescently interacting with a whispering-gallery-mode microcavity. Unlike the conventional passive clock scheme, the active operation directly produces the optical frequency standard without the need of extra laser stabilization, substantially simplifying the clock configuration. The numerical simulation illustrates that the microclock’s frequency stability reaches 1.5 × 10 − 14 at 1 s of averaging, over one order of magnitude better than the recently demonstrated chip-scale optical clock that is built upon rubidium vapor cell and also more stable than current cesium fountain clocks and hydrogen masers. Our work extends the chip-scale clocks to the active fashion, paving the way towards the on-chip quantum micro-metrology, for example, the optical frequency comparison and synchronization between multiple microclocks through frequency microcombs.
We provide an overview of our research on chip-scale atomic devices. By miniaturizing optical setups based on precision spectroscopy, we have developed small atomic sensors and atomic references such as atomic clocks, atomic magnetometers, and optical wavelength references. We have integrated microfabricated alkali vapor cells with small low-power lasers, micro-optics, and low-power microwave oscillators. As a result, we anticipate that atomic stability can be achieved with small size, low cost, battery-operated devices. Advances in fabrication methods and performance are presented.
Abstract We describe three independent research directions focussed on the development of next-generation chip-scale atomic clocks, which combine small size, low power consumption and manufacturability with high frequency stability. The use of optical transitions in microfabricated vapor cells improves both short- and long-term frequency stability to near 10−13 at the cost of the added complexity of a chip-scale optical frequency comb. Chip-scale atomic beam microwave clocks have been successfully demonstrated and offer the potential for microsecond-level timing accuracy over one week. And finally, Sr vapor cells have been developed with lifetimes exceeding 250 hours and residual gas pressures below 1 Torr.