English

Feasibility of the optical fiber clock

Atomic Physics 2017-10-06 v3

Abstract

We explore the feasibility of a compact high-precision Hg atomic clock based on a hollow core optical fiber. We evaluate the sensitivity of the 1S0^1S_0-3P0^3P_0 clock transition in Hg and other divalent atoms to the fiber inner core surface at non-zero temperatures. The Casimir-Polder interaction induced 1S0^1S_0-3P0^3P_0 transition frequency shift is calculated for the atom inside the hollow capillary as a function of atomic position, capillary material, and geometric parameters. For 199Hg^{199}\mathrm{Hg} atoms on the axis of a silica capillary with inner radius 15μm\geq 15 \,\mu \mathrm{m} and optimally chosen thickness d1μmd\sim 1 \,\mu \mathrm{m}, the atom-surface interaction induced 1S0^1S_0-3P0^3P_0 clock transition frequency shift can be kept on the level δν/νHg1019\delta\nu/\nu_{\mathrm{Hg}} \sim10^{-19}. We also estimate the atom loss and heating due to the collisions with the buffer gas, lattice intensity noise induced heating, spontaneous photon scattering, and residual birefringence induced frequency shifts.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1705.05945,
  title  = {Feasibility of the optical fiber clock},
  author = {Ekaterina Ilinova and James F. Babb and Andrei Derevianko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.05945},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

8 pages, 5 figures, submitted