High-Precision Spectroscopy Paves The Way For Atomic Clocks

Scientists have developed a method of trapping atoms in an optical lattice that could lead to the miniaturization of atomic clocks.

AsianScientist (Jul 16, 2014) – Researchers are now one step closer towards the miniaturization of quantum measuring devices with the successful high-precision spectroscopic analysis of strontium atoms trapped inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. This research has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Currently, atomic clocks based on optical lattices are being extensively studied all over the world as a leading candidate for the future “redefinition of the second”. However, unlike photons which are conveniently handled by mirrors and optical fibres without loss of coherence, atoms lose their coherence via atom–atom and atom–wall interactions. This decoherence of atoms deteriorates the performance of atomic clocks and also hinders their miniaturization.

The research group led by University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering Professor Hidetori Katori has managed to confine laser-cooled strontium atoms inside a hollow-core fiber and succeeded in high-precision spectroscopy of the trapped atoms.

By trapping atoms in an optical lattice tuned to the precise wavelength inside the hollow-core fiber, the researchers prevented the equally-spaced atoms from colliding with each other and with the walls of the fiber, removing any interaction between atoms and without causing frequency shift due to the lattice confinement. Consequently, the researchers were able to observe the natural-linewidth-limited atomic spectrum inside the fiber.

These experiments demonstrate that use of a hollow-core fiber allows an increase the optical density of atoms while reducing atomic interactions. This technique will find broad applications in miniaturizing platforms for quantum metrology, including optical lattice clocks.

The article can be found at: Okaba et al. (2014) Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of atoms in a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre.

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Source: University of Tokyo.
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