Related papers: Atomic clocks with suppressed blackbody radiation …
In neutral atom optical clocks, the higher-order atomic polarizability terms lead to the clock transition frequency shift which is motion-state dependent and nonlinear with the optical lattice depth. We propose to use an auxiliary optical…
In this paper we present a novel method of atomic clock synchronisation combining digital error correction and phase tracking. Microwave broadcasts are used to measure the difference in frequency between a pair of atomic clocks. We use the…
Today's most accurate clocks are based on laser spectroscopy of electronic transitions in single trapped ions and feature fractional frequency uncertainties below $1\times10^{-18}$. Scaling these systems to multiple, simultaneously…
Improvements in atom-light coherence are foundational to progress in quantum information science, quantum optics, and precision metrology. Optical atomic clocks require local oscillators with exceptional optical coherence due to the…
High-precision frequency alignment with classical communication channels is difficult due to noise, propagation delays, and signal degradation. Current optical methods, commonly involving frequency combs, are capable of synchronising clocks…
We report the direct excitation of the highly forbidden (6s^2) 1S0 - (6s6p) 3P0 optical transition in two odd isotopes of ytterbium. As the excitation laser frequency is scanned, absorption is detected by monitoring the depletion from an…
We propose a method for laser cooling group-II-like atoms without changing the quantum state of their nuclear spins, thus preserving coherences that are usually destroyed by optical pumping. As group-II-like atoms have a $^1S_0$…
We propose an optical clock based on narrow, spin-forbidden M1 and E2 transitions in laser-cooled neutral titanium. These transitions exhibit much smaller black body radiation shifts than those in alkaline earth atoms, small quadratic…
A viable qubit must have a long coherence time $T_2$. In molecular nanomagnets $T_2$ is often limited at low temperatures by the presence of dipole and hyperfine interactions, which are often mitigated through sample dilution, chemical…
The preparation of large, low-entropy, highly coherent ensembles of identical quantum systems is foundational for many studies in quantum metrology, simulation, and information. Here, we realize these features by leveraging the favorable…
All clocks, classical or quantum, are open non equilibrium irreversible systems subject to the constraints of thermodynamics. Using examples I show that these constraints necessarily limit the performance of clocks and that good clocks…
We observe two-body loss of ${}^3P_0$ ${}^{87}$Sr atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice. We measure loss rate coefficients for atomic samples between 1 and 6 $\mu$K that are prepared either in a single nuclear-spin-sublevel or…
Trapped ions are ideally suited for precision spectroscopy, as is evident from the remarkably low systematic uncertainties of single-ion clocks. The major weakness of these clocks is the long averaging time, necessitated by the low signal…
We report the first experimental determination of the hyperfine quenching rate of the $6s^2\ ^1\!S_0\ (F=1/2) - 6s6p\ ^3\!P_0\ (F=1/2)$ transition in $^{171}$Yb with nuclear spin $I=1/2$. This rate determines the natural linewidth and the…
We present a coherent-population trapping (CPT) microcell atomic clock using symmetric auto-balanced Ramsey (SABR) spectroscopy. The pulsed SABR sequence is applied through direct current-based power modulation of the vertical-cavity…
We propose a high-performance atomic clock based on the 1.81 PHz transition between the ground and first-excited state of doubly ionized lead. Utilizing an even isotope of lead, both clock states have $I=J=F=0$, where $I$, $J$, and $F$ are…
In many applications a source of the black-body radiation (BBR) can be highly anisotropic. This leads to the BBR shift that depends on tensor polarizability and on the projection of the total angular momentum of ions and atoms in a trap. We…
We report the coherent excitation of the highly forbidden $^2S_{1/2} \rightarrow {^2}F_{7/2}$ clock transition in the odd isotope $^{173}\mathrm{Yb}^+$ with nuclear spin $I = 5/2$, and reveal the hyperfine-state-dependent, nuclear spin…
We present a new framework to study the time variation of fundamental constants in a model-independent way. Model independence implies more free parameters than assumed in previous studies. Using data from atomic clocks based on $^{87}$Sr,…
Collisions with background gas can perturb the transition frequency of trapped ions in an optical atomic clock. We develop a non-perturbative framework based on a quantum channel description of the scattering process, and use it to derive a…