English

A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock

Atomic Physics 2019-08-01 v1 Instrumentation and Detectors Optics

Abstract

We realize a two-stage, hexagonal pyramid magneto-optical trap (MOT) with strontium, and demonstrate loading of cold atoms into cavity-enhanced 1D and 2D optical lattice traps, all within a single compact assembly of in-vacuum optics. We show that the device is suitable for high-performance quantum technologies, focusing especially on its intended application as a strontium optical lattice clock. We prepare 2×1042\times 10^4 spin-polarized atoms of 87^{87}Sr in the optical lattice within 500 ms; we observe a vacuum-limited lifetime of atoms in the lattice of 27 s; and we measure a background DC electric field of 12 Vm1^{-1} from stray charges, corresponding to a fractional frequency shift of (1.2×0.8)×1018(-1.2\times 0.8)\times 10^{-18} to the strontium clock transition. When used in combination with careful management of the blackbody radiation environment, the device shows potential as a platform for realizing a compact, robust, transportable optical lattice clock with systematic uncertainty at the 101810^{-18} level.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1907.13429,
  title  = {A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock},
  author = {William Bowden and Richard Hobson and Ian R. Hill and Alvise Vianello and Marco Schioppo and Alissa Silva and Helen S. Margolis and Patrick E. G. Baird and Patrick Gill},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.13429},
  year   = {2019}
}