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Chinese Physics B

A combined magnetic field stabilization system for improving the stability of 40Ca+ optical clock

Mengyan Zeng, Zixiao 子晓 Ma 马, Ruming Hu, Baolin 宝林 Zhang 张, Yanmei 艳梅 Hao 郝, Huaqing 华青 Zhang 张, Yao 垚 Huang 黄, Hua Guan, Kelin 克林 Gao 高

Published Sep 1, 2023• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Future applications of portable 40Ca+ optical clocks require reliable magnetic field stabilization to improve frequency stability, which can be achieved by implementing an active and passive magnetic field noise suppression system. On the one hand, we have optimized the magnetic shielding performance of the portable optical clock by reducing its apertures and optimizing its geometry; on the other hand, we have introduced an active magnetic field noise suppression system to further suppress the magnetic field noise experienced by the ions. These efforts reduced the ambient magnetic field noise by about 10000 times, significantly reduced the linewidth of the clock transition spectrum, improved the stability of the portable 40Ca+ optical clock, and created the conditions for using portable optical clocks in non-laboratory magnetic field environments. This active magnetic field suppression scheme has the advantages of simple installation and wide applicability.

DOI
10.1088/1674-1056/acf5d5

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Future applications of portable 40Ca+ optical clocks require reliable magnetic field stabilization to improve frequency stability, which can be achieved by implementing an active and passive magnetic field noise suppression system. On the one hand, we have optimized the magnetic shielding performance of the portable optical clock by reducing its apertures and optimizing its geometry; on the other hand, we have introduced an active magnetic field noise suppression system to further suppress the magnetic field noise experienced by the ions. These efforts reduced the ambient magnetic field noise by about 10000 times, significantly reduced the linewidth of the clock transition spectrum, improved the stability of the portable 40Ca+ optical clock, and created the conditions for using portable optical clocks in non-laboratory magnetic field environments. This active magnetic field suppression scheme has the advantages of simple installation and wide applicability.
Abstract Here, we develop a compact multilayer magnetic shield for a transportable optical clock, achieving shielding factors of up to 10 5 . To improve the frequency stability of the transportable optical clock, we improved the magnetic-field environment of a transportable 40 Ca + ion optical clock (TCIOC) using the newly developed magnetic shielding system and reduced the clock-laser frequency noise by transferring the stability of an ultrastable reference laser through an optical frequency comb. These improvements enabled the coherent interrogation time to be extended from 40 ms to 320 ms . A time-interleaved self-comparison yielded a measured short-term fractional frequency instability of 1.6 × 10 − 15 / τ , close to the estimated quantum projection noise-limited instability of 1.18 × 10 − 15 / τ . Meanwhile, the uncertainty contributions associated with the DC second-order Zeeman shift and the servo error were reduced to 1.1 × 10 − 21 and 4.5 × 10 − 19 . These results provide a practical basis for further improving the performance of transportable optical clocks.
One of the main limitations in the long-term measurement of the clock transition's absolute frequency is the magnetic field's fluctuation. The time-varying fluctuation of the external magnetic field leads to frequency shifts of the Zeeman components, thereby reducing the optical clock's frequency stability over time. Currently, optical atomic references are usually implemented with the help of a single ion. However, scaling the number of ions to higher values brings an indisputable benefit in the form of a high signal-to-noise ratio and, thus to the efficiency of the entire measurement process. In this case, the ions are spread over a large area, forming so-called ionic Coulomb crystals. In addition to the spatial stability of the magnetic field, the homogeneity of the magnetic field is also significant when working with Coulomb crystals. Excessive magnetic perturbation can be greatly reduced by covering the assembly with a magnetic shield or by using permanent magnets instead of conventionally used magnetic coils. Another method is averaging over multiple-level transitions. This contribution presents a simple method for measuring the stability of the magnetic field at the ion position.
In this review, the improvements made in the past two decades for 40Ca+ optical clocks in China are presented. Uncertainty of below 1.3×10−17 was achieved by applying the “magic” RF trapping frequency and introducing a generalized Ramsey excitation scheme. The stability of 40Ca+ optical clocks has been improved to 2.5×10−15/τ with an uptime rate of 93.8% by implementing two ameliorated lock algorithms in the Ramsey excitation scheme. A long-term clock frequency comparison shows a clock stability of 6.3 × 10−18 in an averaging time of 524 000 s. A robust and transportable clock installed in an air-conditioned car trailer can achieve almost the same performance of laboratory clocks. A height difference between transportable and laboratory clocks was measured with an uncertainty of 0.33 m and the absolute frequency of 40Ca+ optical clock transitions was remeasured as 411 042 129 776 400.41(23) Hz, with a fractional uncertainty of 5.6×10−16 based on a Cs fountain clock in the National Institute of Metrology after the transportable clock was transported from Wuhan to Beijing. The author predicts that transportable single-ion optical clocks especially based on the 40Ca+ will make a significant contribution to the construction of a world-wide optical clock network and the redefinition of the unit of time in the future.
A liquid-nitrogen cryogenic 40Ca+ optical clock is presented that is designed to greatly reduce the blackbody radiation (BBR) shift. The ion trap, the electrodes and the in-vacuum BBR shield are installed under the liquid-nitrogen container, keeping the ions in a cryogenic environment at liquid-nitrogen temperature. Compared with the first design in our previous work, many improvements have been made to increase the performance. The liquid-nitrogen maintenance time has been increased by about three times by increasing the volume of the liquid-nitrogen container; the trap position recovery time after refilling the liquid-nitrogen container has been decreased more than three times by using a better fixation scheme in the liquid-nitrogen container; and the magnetic field noise felt by the ions has been decreased more than three times by a better design of the magnetic shielding system. These optimizations make the scheme for reducing the BBR shift uncertainty of liquid-nitrogen-cooled optical clocks more mature and stable, and develop a stable lock with a narrower linewidth spectrum, which would be very beneficial for further reducing the overall systematic uncertainty of optical clocks.
Abstract Magnetic field noise is an important factor causing quantum decoherence in quantum systems. In order to suppress the decoherence effect, magnetic field noise needs to be properly measured and controlled. Magnetic field noise power spectrum measurement using a single trapped ion based quantum spectrum analyzer is a very effective way. In this paper, the magnetic field noise measurement based on dynamic decoupling technique is analyzed theoretically. Furthermore, we use magnetically insensitive transition to measure the magnetic field noise, which has the potential to measure stronger magnetic field noise and speed up the measurement process. In our experiment, we suppress the magnetic field noise by using active feedback control and passive compensation, where the required passive compensation amplitude is obtained by measuring the magnetic field noise spectrum of a single 25Mg+ ion. With the magnetic field noise suppressed, the expected contribution of the magnetic field noise to the stability of the 25Mg+–27Al+ ion optical clock can be decreased from 2.8 × 1 0 − 15 / τ to 7.2 × 1 0 − 16 / τ .