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Joint Conference of the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium and International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (IFCS-ISAF)

Chip-scale Active Optical Clock Scheme

Haosen Shang, Duo Pan, Xiaopeng Xie, Tiantian Shi, Jingbiao Chen

Published Jul 1, 2020• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a chip-scale cesium four-level active optical clock based on a microfabricated atomic vapor cell. This millimeter-scale vapor cell is coated on both ends of the wall, and the coated walls directly construct the optical resonator. The microfabricated atomic vapor cell is also used to stabilize the frequency of the pump laser, to further reduce the influence of light shift caused by the frequency-stabilized pump laser on the linewidth of active optical frequency standard signal. We make a theoretical analysis and design an experimental scheme. The chip-scale active optical clock with small size and high performance has wide application in precision measurement and detection, and other fields, and it will aid to promote the definition of time unit second based on the optical clock.

DOI
10.1109/ifcs-isaf41089.2020.9234940

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In this paper, we propose a chip-scale cesium four-level active optical clock based on a microfabricated atomic vapor cell. This millimeter-scale vapor cell is coated on both ends of the wall, and the coated walls directly construct the optical resonator. The microfabricated atomic vapor cell is also used to stabilize the frequency of the pump laser, to further reduce the influence of light shift caused by the frequency-stabilized pump laser on the linewidth of active optical frequency standard signal. We make a theoretical analysis and design an experimental scheme. The chip-scale active optical clock with small size and high performance has wide application in precision measurement and detection, and other fields, and it will aid to promote the definition of time unit second based on the optical clock.
Atomic clocks represent the most advanced instruments for providing time-frequency standards, with increasing demand for designs that offer high frequency stability while minimizing size. Central to an atomic clock’s function is the atomic vapor cell, which serves as the quantum reference. Compared to traditional cells, wafer-level micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) vapor cells enable cost-effective, scalable production and facilitate integration with silicon-based chips. In this work, we present a wafer-level MEMS vapor cell featuring an innovative silicon-glass-silicon transverse optical path structure. A single wafer is used to fabricate 24 identical atomic vapor cells, each with precise dimensions of 14 mm×14 mm×4.3 mm, ensuring scalability. We demonstrate an optical frequency standard that combines modulation transfer spectroscopy (MTS) with a MEMS vapor cell, featuring a compact design with excellent performance. This frequency standard achieves stability over averaging times of 1–400 s, with short-term stability of 2.6×10 −13 at 1 s and 5.1×10 −14 at 200 s. The laser linewidth is only 3.9 kHz, marking a substantial improvement over existing thermal standards, and opening potential applications in navigation, radar, and precision measurement. This work provides a crucial step toward the development of chip-scale optical clocks.
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.
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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.
Laboratory optical atomic clocks achieve remarkable accuracy (now counted to 18 digits or more), opening possibilities to explore fundamental physics and enable new measurements. However, their size and use of bulk components prevent them from being more widely adopted in applications that require precision timing. By leveraging silicon-chip photonics for integration and to reduce component size and complexity, we demonstrate a compact optical-clock architecture. Here a semiconductor laser is stabilized to an optical transition in a microfabricated rubidium vapor cell, and a pair of interlocked Kerr-microresonator frequency combs provide fully coherent optical division of the clock laser to generate an electronic 22 GHz clock signal with a fractional frequency instability of one part in 10^(13). These results demonstrate key concepts of how to use silicon-chip devices in future portable and ultraprecise optical clocks.