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URSI Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference

The Development of the NIM-Yb1 Ion Optical Clock

Shaoyang Dai, Yani Zuo, Chaowei Wang, Shiying Cao, Kun Liu, Weiliang Chen, Fasong Zhen, Wenbo Zhao, Fang Fang

Published Jan 1, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Optical clocks serve as the benchmark devices for the next-generation definition of the second and have significant applications in testing the theories beyong the standard models, dark matter research, and related fields.The ytterbium ion optical clock, featuring two clock transition lines, is among the most precise optical clocks with the lowest uncertainties.The National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM), initiated research on ytterbium ion optical clocks in 2021.Based on an end-cap ion trap, a vacuum system has been established.A 370 nm thirdharmonic fiber laser, along with 760 nm and 935 nm DFB lasers, ensures a stable operation of the optical system.To date, both the electric quadrupole and electric octupole clock transitions have been observed.A 2.8 Hz linewidth of the electric octupole transition has been achieved, with a stability of 1.7E-15 τ -1/2 after closed-loop locking.The uncertainties due to AC Starks shift from clock laser and second-order Doppler shifts are being evaluated, with an expected total uncertainty below 5E-18.

DOI
10.46620/ursiaprasc25/wugq6568

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Optical clocks serve as the benchmark devices for the next-generation definition of the second and have significant applications in testing the theories beyong the standard models, dark matter research, and related fields.The ytterbium ion optical clock, featuring two clock transition lines, is among the most precise optical clocks with the lowest uncertainties.The National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM), initiated research on ytterbium ion optical clocks in 2021.Based on an end-cap ion trap, a vacuum system has been established.A 370 nm thirdharmonic fiber laser, along with 760 nm and 935 nm DFB lasers, ensures a stable operation of the optical system.To date, both the electric quadrupole and electric octupole clock transitions have been observed.A 2.8 Hz linewidth of the electric octupole transition has been achieved, with a stability of 1.7E-15 τ -1/2 after closed-loop locking.The uncertainties due to AC Starks shift from clock laser and second-order Doppler shifts are being evaluated, with an expected total uncertainty below 5E-18.
With the development of optical frequency comb and ultra-stable laser techniques, the performance of optical frequency standards has been improved significantly over the past decades. Single charged Yb ions have an alkali-like atomic structure and have ultra-long storage time. And the ytterbium single-ion optical frequency standards have two clock transitions (E2 & E3). In this paper, we will introduce the progress in the development of a highly accurate optical frequency standard based on single ytterbium-171 ion at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China.
Forbidden transitions in single trapped ion systems are being considered as references for future optical frequency standards. These standards are expected to have application as highly stable and reproducible optical clocks, realizations of the metre and as optical frequency standards in their own right. This paper prescribes the work carried out at the National Physical Laboratory over recent years to use a highly forbidden 2S1/2 - 2F7/2 467 nm electric octupole transition in a single ion of 171Yb+ as a frequency reference. A review of the previous measurements needed to the locate octupole transition in this 171-isotope is given and a more detailed discussion of recent work is presented. This includes spectroscopy of the octupole transition with kilohertz resolution and a direct measurement of its optical frequency. Measurements of the dynamic Stark and the quadratic Zeeman shifts on the octupole frequency are also discussed.
Atomic clocks constitute a fundamental tool for time and frequency metrology and their application is widespread in many technological fields. In particular, the International System of units (SI) defines the second on a microwave transition of Caesium atoms. The realization is made by clocks reaching uncertainties of few parts in 10^−16, making the second to be the quantity realized with the smallest uncertainty in the SI. However, a new generation of atomic clocks, called optical clocks, have already demonstrated to surpass Caesium standards both in accuracy and stability. The research performed during my PhD activity has been focused on the development and characterization of Ytterbium (Yb) optical lattice clocks. These systems operate with a large number of ultra-cold neutral atoms having a clock transition in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The atomic sample is trapped in an periodical optical potential called optical lattice that gives the advantage to interrogate many quantum absorbers for an extended time, with small perturbations, allowing to achieve an unprecedented stability and accuracy. The main experimental work has been carried out in the laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM) in Turin, where several atomic clocks are present including the Italian primary frequency standard, the Caesium fountain ITCsF2, and where an Yb optical lattice clock is currently being developed. This thesis describes the functioning of the system along with the full characterization of systematic effects, the complete uncertainty budget and its first absolute frequency measurement against the primary frequency standard. The clock exhibited an accuracy of 1.6 × 10^−16 and the comparison with the Cs fountain resulted in a frequency of f171Yb = 518 295 836 590 863.59(31) Hz, limited by the fountain uncertainty. This measurement is in agreement with the ytterbium frequency recommended as a secondary representation of the second in the SI and constitutes the first measurement of a Yb clock in Europe and the second one in the world against a primary frequency standard. Several upgrades have been applied after the absolute measurement. In particular, the design and realization a system capable to frequency stabilize several lasers on a single optical cavity is illustrated. This cavity has been implemented to lock the lasers used to cool and trap the atomic sample at 399, 556 and 759nm using the offset sideband locking technique, a modified version of the Pound–Drever–Hall method that gives an extended frequency tunability. The system proved to be an easy-to-use and reliable tool for the experimental activity showing a linewidth below 300 Hz at 556nm, which is the wavelength that requires the most stringent performance, and a long term drift below 20 kHz per day at 759nm. That is suitable for operating the lattice laser with a light shift uncertainty below 1 × 10−18. During my PhD I have been guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of Boulder, Colorado, for nine months in 2016. In these laboratories two Yb optical lattice clocks are operative. I worked on the instability measurement of a composite system exploiting the two clocks to suppress the Dick effect, called zero-dead-time (ZDT) clock, which demonstrated a fractional instability of 3 × 10−17 at 1s. The two clocks can also be operated to extend the interrogation time obtaining a spectroscopic feature after 4 s of 120(20)mHz corresponding to a quality factor Q > 4 × 10^15. I also worked on the characterization of several systematic shifts that allowed to complete the uncertainty budget of the clocks at 1.6 × 10^−18. In particular, I contributed to the characterization of lattice light shifts considering the effect of atomic sample temperature and the identification of a metrological regime called operational magic frequency where frequency shifts are insensitive to changes in trap depth.
The171Yb+ion possesses two transitions that are applicable as references for optical frequency standards and several general features make this ion attractive: All relevant radiations for cooling and excitation can be generated from diode lasers. A nuclear spin of 1/2 ensures a simple sublevel structure. Long storage times of Yb+in ion traps are easily obtained. The2S1/2(F = 0) →2D3/2(F = 2, mF= 0) electric quadrupole transition at 436 nm with a natural linewidth of 3.1 Hz provides a quantum noise limited instability of a single-ion frequency standard of about 2 × 10-15in 1 s. The electric octupole transition2S1/2(F = 0)→2F7/2(F = 3, mF= 0) at 467 nm with a natural linewidth in the nHz range will allow to surpass that instability level. It also possesses a lower sensitivity to field-induced frequency shifts. In this system the Fourier-limited interrogation linewidth can be adapted to that of the best available laser sources, which are presently at the level below 1 Hz. Both transitions have been recommended as secondary representations of the SI second.
The current status of an Yb optical lattice clock at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is reported. The systematic uncertainty of the Yb clock in the first accuracy evaluation was 1.5 × 10 −14 [Park et al. , Metrologia 50, 119 (2013)]. The uncertainty was dominated by the large uncertainties in the lattice ac Stark shift and the collisional shift, which were mainly limited by the large linewidth and jitter of the clock laser. Recently, a highly stable clock laser at 578 nm was developed with a short-term linewidth of 3.5 Hz and a frequency jitter of about 25 Hz at 1 s and 10 s measurement times, respectively. The long-term frequency drift showed only a linear dependence on time, confirming that the temperature of the super-cavity was maintained a zero coefficient of thermal expansion. The frequency of the lattice laser at 759 nm was phase locked to the optical frequency comb and could be stabilized at the “absolute” frequency of the “magic wavelength”, to within a 1-MHz uncertainty. This improvement greatly reduced the fractional uncertainty due to the lattice ac Stark shift down to 2 × 10 −16 . The systematic uncertainty of the clock is currently 5.3 × 10 −15 and is dominated by the collisional frequency shift.
An optical clock based upon a single mercury ion in a radio-frequency trap has the potential for both high stability and high accuracy. The systematic uncertainty of this frequency standard is limited by contributions due to two types of external fields. The clock has previously been operated with a magnetic bias field that destabilizes dark states that limit the rates of laser cooling and state detection. This bias field has previously resulted in a substantial second-order Zeeman shift. We now destabilize the dark states with a polarization-scrambling technique that allows us to operate with only a minimal magnetic field. The second uncertainty that we address here is the magnitude of the quadrupole shift due to the interaction of stray electric-field gradients with the quadrupole moment of the ion. We describe the steps that we are taking to evaluate this shift in the near future. 1