Search results for "Atomic clock"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
Production and detection of atomic hexadecapole at Earth's magnetic field
2007
Anisotropy of atomic states is characterized by population differences and coherences between Zeeman sublevels. It can be efficiently created and probed via resonant interactions with light, the technique which is at the heart of modern atomic clocks and magnetometers. Recently, nonlinear magneto-optical techniques have been developed for selective production and detection of higher polarization moments, hexadecapole and hexacontatetrapole, in the ground states of the alkali atoms. Extension of these techniques into the range of geomagnetic fields is important for practical applications. This is because hexadecapole polarization corresponding to the $\Delta M=4$ Zeeman coherence, with maxim…
Focus on atom optics and its applications
2010
Atom optics employs the modern techniques of quantum optics and laser cooling to enable applications which often outperform current standard technologies. Atomic matter wave interferometers allow for ultra-precise sensors; metrology and clocks are pushed to an extraordinary accuracy of 17 digits using single atoms. Miniaturization and integration are driven forward for both atomic clocks and atom optical circuits. With the miniaturization of information-storage and -processing devices, the scale of single atoms is approached in solid state devices, where the laws of quantum physics lead to novel, advantageous features and functionalities. An upcoming branch of atom optics is the control of …
Energy of the $^{229}$Th nuclear clock transition
2019
The first nuclear excited state of $^{229}$Th offers the unique opportunity for laser-based optical control of a nucleus. Its exceptional properties allow for the development of a nuclear optical clock which offers a complementary technology and is expected to outperform current electronic-shell based atomic clocks. The development of a nuclear clock was so far impeded by an imprecise knowledge of the energy of the $^{229}$Th nuclear excited state. In this letter we report a direct excitation energy measurement of this elusive state and constrain this to 8.28$\pm$0.17 eV. The energy is determined by spectroscopy of the internal conversion electrons emitted in-flight during the decay of the …
Limits on gravitational Einstein Equivalence Principle violation from monitoring atomic clock frequencies during a year
2016
Sun's gravitation potential at earth varies during a year due to varying Earth-Sun distance. Comparing the results of very accurate measurements of atomic clock transitions performed at different time in the year allows us to study the dependence of the atomic frequencies on the gravitational potential. We examine the measurement data for the ratio of the frequencies in Hg$^+$ and Al$^+$ clock transitions and absolute frequency measurements (with respect to caesium frequency standard) for Dy, Sr, H, hyperfine transitions in Rb and H, and obtain significantly improved limits on the values of the gravity related parameter of the Einstein Equivalence Principle violating term in the Standard Mo…
A low phase noise microwave source for high‐performance CPT Rb atomic clock
2021
Abstract Phase noise of the frequency synthesizer is one of the main limitations to the short‐term stability of microwave atomic clocks. Here, a low‐noise, simple‐architecture microwave frequency synthesizer for a coherent population trapping (CPT) clock is demonstrated. The synthesizer is mainly composed of a 100 MHz oven‐controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), a microwave comb generator, and a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). The absolute phase noises of 3.417 GHz signal are measured to be −55 dBc/Hz, −81 dBc/Hz, −111 dBc/Hz and −134 dBc/Hz, respectively, for 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 100 Hz and 1 kHz offset frequencies, which shows only 1 dB deterioration at the second harmonic of the modulation frequ…
Test of relativistic time dilation with fast optical atomic clocks at different velocities
2007
Time dilation is one of the most fascinating aspects of special relativity as it abolishes the notion of absolute time. It was first observed experimentally by Ives and Stilwell in 1938 using the Doppler effect. Here we report on a method, based on fast optical atomic clocks with large, but different Lorentz boosts, that tests relativistic time dilation with unprecedented precision. The approach combines ion storage and cooling with optical frequency counting using a frequency comb. 7Li+ ions are prepared at 6.4% and 3.0% of the speed of light in a storage ring, and their time is read with an accuracy of 2×10−10 using laser saturation spectroscopy. The comparison of the Doppler shifts yield…
Zepto-Second Atomic Clock for Nuclear Contact Time Measurements
2014
Renewed interest in search for the spontaneous decay of the neutral vacuum by emission of positrons in overcritical nuclear collision systems prompted the question of how to find experimental triggers for the required long sticking times in the order of \(10^{-20}\) s in dissipative heavy ion collisions [1]. A survey of various conceivable experimental methods led to the conclusion that the most promising way may be either to search directly for the positron line [2] or to investigate the shape of \(\delta \)-electron spectra [3, 4], both as function of the total kinetic energy loss or a large mass transfer between the collision partners. The \(\delta \)-electron-spectroscopy tool has been …
Decoherence from dipolar interspin interactions in molecular spin qubits
2019
The realization of spin-based logical gates crucially depends on magnetically coupled spin qubits. Thus, understanding decoherence when spin qubits are in close proximity will become a roadblock to overcome. Herein, we propose a method free of fitting parameters to evaluate the qubit phase memory time ${T}_{m}$ in samples with high electron spin concentrations. The method is based on a model aimed to estimate magnetic nuclear decoherence [P. C. E. Stamp and I. S. Tupitsyn, Phys. Rev. B 69, 014401 (2004)]. It is applied to a ground-spin $J=8$ magnetic molecule 1 displaying atomic clock transitions, namely ${{[\mathrm{H}{\mathrm{o}}^{\mathrm{III}}{({\mathrm{W}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{18})}_{2}]}^{9…
Direct detection of the 229Th nuclear clock transition
2017
Today’s most precise time and frequency measurements are performed with optical atomic clocks. However, it has been proposed that they could potentially be outperformed by a nuclear clock, which employs a nuclear transition instead of an atomic shell transition. There is only one known nuclear state that could serve as a nuclear clock using currently available technology, namely, the isomeric first excited state of 229Th (denoted 229mTh). Here we report the direct detection of this nuclear state, which is further confirmation of the existence of the isomer and lays the foundation for precise studies of its decay parameters. On the basis of this direct detection, the isomeric energy is const…
Direct detection of the elusive 229thorium isomer: Milestone towards a nuclear clock
2017
Recently, the first direct detection of the long-searched low-lying isomeric first excited state of 229Th could be realized via its internal conversion decay branch, which confirms the isomer's existence and lays the foundation for precise studies of its decay parameters, in particular its half-life and excitation energy. Follow-up studies confirmed the theoretically expected lifetime reduction by about 109 of neutral 229mTh compared to charged isomers with τ∼10 μS thus emphasizing the need to efficiently suppress internal conversion when aiming for the detection of a potential photonic decay branch of 229mTh. Work towards precisely determining the excitation energy of the thorium isomer is…