Related papers: Colloquium: Physics of optical lattice clocks
Precision measurements and quantum information processing with cold atoms may benefit from trapping atoms with specially engineered, "magic" optical fields. At the magic trapping conditions, the relevant atomic properties remain immune to…
Time plays a crucial role in the intuitive understanding of the world around us. Within quantum mechanics, however, time is not usually treated as an observable quantity; it enters merely as a parameter in the laws of motion of physical…
We present experimental techniques that employ an optical accordion lattice with dynamically tunable spacing to create and study bright matter-wave solitons in optical lattices. The system allows precise control of lattice parameters over a…
This paper describes advances in microwave frequency standards using laser-cooled atoms at BNM-SYRTE. First, recent improvements of the $^{133}$Cs and $^{87}$Rb atomic fountains are described. Thanks to the routine use of a cryogenic…
For atoms or molecules in optical lattices, conventional thermometry methods are often unsuitable due to low particle numbers or a lack of cycling transitions. However, a differential spectroscopic light shift can map temperature onto the…
Atomic clocks are typically operated by locking a local oscillator (LO) to a single atomic ensemble. In this article we propose a scheme where the LO is locked to several atomic ensembles instead of one. This results in an exponential…
With ultracold $^{87}$Sr confined in a magic wavelength optical lattice, we present the most precise study (2.8 Hz statistical uncertainty) to-date of the $^1S_0$ - $^3P_0$ optical clock transition with a detailed analysis of systematic…
Despite being a canonical example of quantum mechanical perturbation theory, as well as one of the earliest observed spectroscopic shifts, the Stark effect contributes the largest source of uncertainty in a modern optical atomic clock…
We provide an analytical description of the dynamics of an atom in an optical lattice using the method of perturbative adiabatic expansion. A precise understanding of the lattice-atom interaction is essential to taking full advantage of the…
Multi-node optical clock networks will enable future studies of fundamental physics and enable applications in quantum and classical communications as well as navigation and geodesy. We implement the first ever multi-node optical clock…
Optical lattice clocks can now resolve the height difference below 1 mm within an atomic ensemble by means of gravitational redshift with integration over sufficient amount of time. Further improvement in the stability enables the clocks to…
Atomic clocks based on optical transitions are the most stable, and therefore precise, timekeepers available. These clocks operate by alternating intervals of atomic interrogation with dead time required for quantum state preparation and…
We analyze spin squeezing via Rydberg dressing in optical lattice clocks with random fractional filling. We compare the achievable clock stability in different lattice geometries, including unity-filled tweezer clock arrays and fractionally…
We investigate a setup where a cloud of atoms is trapped in an optical lattice potential of a standing wave laser field which is created by retro-reflection on a micro-membrane. The membrane vibrations itself realize a quantum mechanical…
We examine here the classical dynamics of cold atoms in square optical lattices, i.e. lattices obtained with two orthogonal stationary plane waves. Contrary to much of the past studies in this domain, the potential is here time independent…
In the global network of institutions engaged with the realization of International Atomic Time (TAI), atomic clocks and time scales are compared by means of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and by employing telecommunication satellites…
We report high-precision frequency ratio measurements between optical atomic clocks based on $^{27}$Al$^+$, $^{171}$Yb, and $^{87}$Sr. With total fractional uncertainties at or below $3.2 \times 10^{-18}$, these measurements meet an…
We propose a precision measurement of time variations of the proton-electron mass ratio using ultracold molecules in an optical lattice. Vibrational energy intervals are sensitive to changes of the mass ratio. In contrast to measurements…
According to thermodynamics, the inevitable increase of entropy allows the past to be distinguished from the future. From this perspective, any clock must incorporate an irreversible process that allows this flow of entropy to be tracked.…
A clock steps a computer through a cycle of phases. For the propagation of logical symbols from one computer to another, each computer must mesh its phases with arrivals of symbols from other computers. Even the best atomic clocks drift…