Towards the next decades of precision and accuracy in a $^{87}$Sr optical lattice clock

POSTER

Abstract

Optical lattice clocks based on ensembles of neutral atoms have the potential to operate at the highest levels of stability due to the parallel interrogation of many atoms. However, the control of systematic shifts in these systems is correspondingly difficult due to potential collisional atomic interactions. By tightly confining samples of ultracold fermionic $^{87}$Sr atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice, as opposed to the conventional one-dimensional geometry, we increase the collisional interaction energy to be the largest relevant energy scale, thus entering the strongly interacting regime of clock operation. We show both theoretically and experimentally that this increase in interaction energy results in a paradoxical decrease in the collisional shift, reducing this key systematic to the $10^{-17}$ level.\footnote{M~D.~Swallows \textit{et al.} Science, 10.1126/science.1196442, 2011} We also present work towards next- generation ultrastable lasers to attain quantum-limited clock operation, potentially enhancing clock precision by an order of magnitude.

*This work was supported by a grant from the ARO with funding from the DARPA OLE program, NIST, NSF, and AFOSR.

Authors

  • Michael Martin

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado

  • Yige Lin

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado
    • JILA, NIST, University of Colorado

  • Matthew Swallows

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado
    • JILA, NIST, University of Colorado

  • Michael Bishof

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado
    • JILA, NIST, University of Colorado

  • Sebastian Blatt

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado

  • Craig Benko

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado

  • Licheng Chen

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado

  • Takako Hirokawa

    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado

  • Ana Maria Rey

    • JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standard and Technology, Boulder, CO 80309
    • JILA (CU and NIST), and Dep. of Physics, U Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
    • JILA and University of Colorado
    • University of Colorado, NIST, and JILA
    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado
    • JILA, NIST, University of Colorado
    • JILA \& Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

  • Jun Ye

    • JILA
    • JILA, University of Colorado
    • JILA, NIST and the University of Colorado
    • JILA/NIST, University of Colorado