Prospects for an atomic clock in a laser trap

David R. Leibrandt

Terrestrial optical atomic clocks based on laser cooled atoms confined in the Lamb-Dicke regime in optical lattice traps or ion traps are the most precise and accurate measurement devices of any kind, and can be used to look for very small deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model that would hint at new physics. In this talk, I will discuss the design trade space for robust, autonomous, low-SWaP optical clocks for space, focusing primarily on trapped-ion clocks due to their lower complexity and laser power requirements. I will discuss the potential of integrated photonics to drastically reduce SWaP and increase robustness, and highlight performance targets for future development. Furthermore, I will discuss quantum metrology algorithms that can be used to alleviate the laser system performance requirements and suppress sensitivity to environmental noise. Finally, I will conclude by discussing the new physics reach of various optical atomic clock space flight mission scenarios.

Vishal Shah, John E. Kitching

Qasim Hassan Ubaid

Optical atomic clocks have proven to be the most stable clocks with the lowest systematic uncertainty which has now reached a record level of (9.4 X10/(^{19}/)). Thus optical clocks now surpass the best fountain Cs atomic clocks by three orders of magnitude which opens the prospect of using optical clocks as frequency standards for timekeeping in the near future. \n \nThis thesis describes the progress that has been made towards a stationary optical lattice clock based on strontium atoms, and reports the results of an ongoing characterization. \n \nAn experimental apparatus was designed and built to efficiently slow, cool, and trap the strontium atoms which represent the heart of the strontium optical lattice clock discussed in this thesis. The novel aspects of the experimental development described in the thesis comprise a frequency doubling cavity for producing 461 nm laser light employed for cooling and trapping the strontium atoms in the first stage cooling. This cavity provided sufficient power for cooling and trapping the strontium atoms for up to 300 mW of 461 nm laser light. Furthermore, a new design of Zeeman slower based on spherical permanent magnets was produced, built and characterized. \n \nThe slower is compact, tunable, easy to assemble and maintain, and cost-effective as the permanent magnets do not require any power supply or water cooling. It is suggested that this kind of Zeeman slower constitutes an ideal solution for portable optical clock systems. A blue magneto-optical trap was realized for the first time with such a Zeeman slower. With about 30 mW of a 461 nm laser, up to 6X10/(^8/) atoms were captured.

Gregório R. M. da Silva

Jaques Vanier

Jia Zhang, Tiantian Shi, Jianxiang Miao +1 more

Abstract The atomic clocks, whether operating at optical or microwave region, can be divided into two categories according to their working mode, namely the passive clocks and active clocks. The passive clocks, whose standard frequency is locked to an ultra-narrow atomic spectral line, such as laser cooled Cs beam or lattice trapped Sr atoms, depend on the spontaneous emission line. On the contrary, the active clocks, in which the atoms are used as the gain medium, are based on the stimulated emission radiation, their spectrum can be directly used as the frequency standard. Up to now, the active hydrogen maser has been the most stable microwave atomic clocks. Also, the Sr superradiant active atomic clock is prospects for a millihertz-linewidth laser. Moreover, the optical clocks are expected to surpass the performance of microwave clocks both in stability and uncertainty, since their higher working frequency. The active optical clock has the potential to improve the stability of the best clocks by 2 orders of magnitude. In this work, we introduce the development of active optical clocks, and their types is classified according to the energy-level structure of atoms for stimulated radiation.