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cosp

Portable optical lattice clocks for chronometric levelling and space applications

Christian Lisdat, Stephan Schiller, Uwe Sterr, Silvio Koller, Jacopo Grotti, Stefan Vogt, Sebastian Häfner, Sofia Herbers, R. Schwarz, Ali Al-Masoudi, Sören Dörscher, Stefano Origlia, Mysore Srinivas Pramod

Published Jul 1, 2018• 0 citations
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Optical clocks are being developed worldwide and are at the forefront of frequency metrology. Today they outperform microwave clocks instability and inaccuracy by two orders of magnitude, raising discussion about the redefinition of the SI second. Their outstanding performances are paving the way to applications in different fields apart from metrology. Optical clocks can be used for geodetic measurements, such as chronometric levelling, and fundamental physics experiments. These applications require transportable, and even space-born optical clocks that are in development. Space optical clocks will serve as a high accurate references for intercontinental clock comparisons, and will also provide a unique test bench for fundamental physics theories, such as Einstein’s prediction of time dilation and equivalence principle. This work presents the development and characterization of a transportable strontium optical lattice clock, realised in the framework of the ESA I-SOC (Space Optical Clock on the ISS) mission. The aim of the project is to investigate new technologies and techniques, in order to develop a robust apparatus as demonstrator for space applications. Special effort has been made to reduce the size and weight of the clock, so as to meet the stringent requirements of a space mission. The system reported here is one of the most compact optical clock to date, with a total volume of only 1 m3, excluding electronics. The clock is operated with the strontium bosonic isotope 88Sr: this is preferable to the fermionic counterpart 87Sr, commonly used in optical lattice clocks, if simplicity and reliability are required. However, in terms of accuracy, bosonic clocks present some disadvantages compared with the fermionic ones, which have significantly slowed down their development for metrological applications. We characterised the relevant operating parameters and their effect on the clock accuracy and instability. Exploiting a clock laser offering an outstanding stability, we were able to demonstrate a clock fractional instability of 3×10-18 , and an inaccuracy of 2×10-17: both values represent a factor of 30 improvement compared with previous works on bosonic optical clocks. These results suggest that, in the near future, bosonic clocks may become competitive to their fermionic counterparts. This is of interest for applications such as time scale realization, transportable clocks, or for test of fundamental physics. As an example, we measured the 88Sr-87Sr isotope shift, with an uncertainty of 12 mHz.

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Strontium optical lattice clocks have undergone vast developments in the past decade with world leading frequency stability and uncertainty records. Now, a lot of scientists are moving from laboratory based clocks to transportable, and portable clocks for applications including space, fundamental science, finance, and communication. The research team at the University of Birmingham are working towards developing transportable apparatus for studying fundamental physics, global positioning system (GPS), and geodesy applications. This thesis reports on the progress towards two different transportable strontium optical lattice clocks, which we will call ‘miniclock’ and ‘Space Optical lattice Clock 2’ (SOC2). \nA diode-seeded tapered amplifier based narrow linewidth laser is developed and used to realise second stage cooling of strontium in miniclock apparatus. The laser has achieved a linewidth of 1 kHz after stabilising to a 3 cm long optical reference cavity. A multiple frequency stabilisation unit (FSU) for strontium lattice clocks is established. It is a robust, portable, and compact frequency stabilisation unit with a volume of 593 cm^3. Three different lasers are currently locked simultaneously to the FSU cavity, which could be extended to any number of lasers, enabling to use a single cavity for locking all the lasers required in a strontium lattice clock, except the clock laser. FSU is designed specifically for use in compact clocks. In the SOC2 system, realisation of clock transition and its characterisation are performed. A transition linewidth of 3 Hz is obtained for the SOC2 strontium clock. Further details and results are described in the thesis.

•Jul 13, 2020•2 citations
An optical clock network requires the establishment of an optical frequency transmission link between multiple optical clocks, utilizing narrow-linewidth lasers. Despite achieving link noise levels of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}20}$, the final accuracy is limited by the phase noise of the clock laser. Correlation spectroscopy has been developed to transmit frequency information between two optical clocks directly, enabling optical clock comparison beyond the phase noise limit of clock lasers, and significantly enhancing the measurement accuracy or shortening the measurement time. In this article, two compact transportable 40Ca+{}^{40}\mathrm{Ca}{}^{+}40Ca+ clocks are employed to accomplish a correlation spectroscopy comparison, demonstrating a 10-cm level measurement accuracy of chronometric leveling using a mediocre clock laser with linewidth of 200 Hz. The relative frequency instability reaches $6.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}/\sqrt{\ensuremath{\tau}/s}$, which is about 20 times better than the result with Rabi spectroscopy using the same clock laser. This method circumvents the harsh requirements on the performance of the clock laser, so that an ordinary stable laser can also be employed in the construction of an optical clock network, which is essential for field applications, especially for chronometric leveling.
Optical clocks are being developed worldwide and are at the forefront of frequency metrology. Today they outperform microwave clocks instability and inaccuracy by two orders of magnitude, raising discussion about the redefinition of the SI second. Their outstanding performances are paving the way to applications in different fields apart from metrology. Optical clocks can be used for geodetic measurements, such as chronometric levelling, and fundamental physics experiments. These applications require transportable, and even space-born optical clocks that are in development. Space optical clocks will serve as a high accurate references for intercontinental clock comparisons, and will also provide a unique test bench for fundamental physics theories, such as Einstein’s prediction of time dilation and equivalence principle. This work presents the development and characterization of a transportable strontium optical lattice clock, realised in the framework of the ESA I-SOC (Space Optical Clock on the ISS) mission. The aim of the project is to investigate new technologies and techniques, in order to develop a robust apparatus as demonstrator for space applications. Special effort has been made to reduce the size and weight of the clock, so as to meet the stringent requirements of a space mission. The system reported here is one of the most compact optical clock to date, with a total volume of only 1 m3, excluding electronics. The clock is operated with the strontium bosonic isotope 88Sr: this is preferable to the fermionic counterpart 87Sr, commonly used in optical lattice clocks, if simplicity and reliability are required. However, in terms of accuracy, bosonic clocks present some disadvantages compared with the fermionic ones, which have significantly slowed down their development for metrological applications. We characterised the relevant operating parameters and their effect on the clock accuracy and instability. Exploiting a clock laser offering an outstanding stability, we were able to demonstrate a clock fractional instability of 3×10-18 , and an inaccuracy of 2×10-17: both values represent a factor of 30 improvement compared with previous works on bosonic optical clocks. These results suggest that, in the near future, bosonic clocks may become competitive to their fermionic counterparts. This is of interest for applications such as time scale realization, transportable clocks, or for test of fundamental physics. As an example, we measured the 88Sr-87Sr isotope shift, with an uncertainty of 12 mHz.
Strontium optical lattice clocks have undergone vast developments in the past decade with world leading frequency stability and uncertainty records. Now, a lot of scientists are moving from laboratory based clocks to transportable, and portable clocks for applications including space, fundamental science, finance, and communication. The research team at the University of Birmingham are working towards developing transportable apparatus for studying fundamental physics, global positioning system (GPS), and geodesy applications. This thesis reports on the progress towards two different transportable strontium optical lattice clocks, which we will call ‘miniclock’ and ‘Space Optical lattice Clock 2’ (SOC2). \nA diode-seeded tapered amplifier based narrow linewidth laser is developed and used to realise second stage cooling of strontium in miniclock apparatus. The laser has achieved a linewidth of 1 kHz after stabilising to a 3 cm long optical reference cavity. A multiple frequency stabilisation unit (FSU) for strontium lattice clocks is established. It is a robust, portable, and compact frequency stabilisation unit with a volume of 593 cm^3. Three different lasers are currently locked simultaneously to the FSU cavity, which could be extended to any number of lasers, enabling to use a single cavity for locking all the lasers required in a strontium lattice clock, except the clock laser. FSU is designed specifically for use in compact clocks. In the SOC2 system, realisation of clock transition and its characterisation are performed. A transition linewidth of 3 Hz is obtained for the SOC2 strontium clock. Further details and results are described in the thesis.