Related papers: Fourier transform detection of weak optical transi…
We demonstrate an optical frequency analysis method using the Fourier transform of detection times of fluorescence photons emitted from a single trapped 40Ca+ ion. The response of the detected photon rate to the relative laser frequency…
Theories unifying gravity with other interactions suggest spatial and temporal variation of fundamental "constants" in the Universe. A change in the fine structure constant, alpha, could be detected via shifts in the frequencies of atomic…
We propose a new spectroscopic method for measuring weak transitions in cold and trapped atoms, which exploits the long interaction times and tight confinement offered by dark optical traps together with an electron shelving technique to…
We propose a new frequency standard based on a $4f^{14} 6s6p~ ^3\!P_0 - 4f^{13} 6s^2 5d ~(J=2)$ transition in neutral Yb. This transition has a potential for high stability and accuracy and the advantage of the highest sensitivity among…
A Wannier-Stark optical lattice clock has demonstrated unprecedented measurement precision for optical atomic clocks. We present a systematic evaluation of the lattice light shift, a necessary next step for establishing this system as an…
We propose a novel approach to the important fundamental problem of detecting weak optical fields at the few photon level. The ability to detect with high efficiency (>99%), and to distinguish the number of photons in a given time interval…
Singly-ionized ytterbium, with ultra-narrow optical clock transitions at 467 nm and 436 nm, is a convenient system for the realization of optical atomic clocks and tests of present-day variation of fundamental constants. We present the…
We describe a novel approach to directly measure the energy of the narrow, low-lying isomeric state in $^{229}$Th. Since nuclear transitions are far less sensitive to environmental conditions than atomic transitions, we argue that the…
We demonstrate that extremely rapid and weak periodic and non-periodic signals can easily be detected by using the autocorrelation of intensity as a function of time. We use standard radio-astronomical observations that have artificial…
We measure the AC-Stark shifts of the 5S{1/2}, F=2 to 5P{3/2}, F'=3 transitions of individual optically trapped 87Rb atoms using a non-destructive detection technique that allows us to measure the fluorescent signal of one-and-the-same atom…
We propose a compact atomic clock based on ultracold Rb atoms that are magnetically trapped near the surface of an atom microchip. An interrogation scheme that combines electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) with Ramsey's method of…
We present the experimental demonstration of non-destructive probing of the 1S0-3P0 clock transition probability in an optical lattice clock with 87Sr atoms. It is based on the phase shift induced by the atoms on a weak off-resonant laser…
An atom exposed to an electric field will experience Stark shifts of its internal energy levels, proportional to their polarizabilities. In optical frequency metrology, the Stark shift due to background black-body radiation (BBR) modifies…
A sharp resonance line that appears in three-photon transitions between the $^{1}S_{0}$ and $^{3}P_{0}$ states of alkaline earth and Yb atoms is proposed as an optical frequency standard. This proposal permits the use of the even isotopes,…
Fundamentally, the dynamics of micro-macro transitions is instrumental to understanding the process of quantum-to-classical transitions; technologically, it can also facilitate the detection of the microscopic signals in quantum experiments…
We study ultranarrow $5s_{1/2}$ - $4f_{5/2}$ transitions in Nd$^{13+}$ and Sm$^{15+}$ and demonstrate that they lie in the optical region. The transitions are insensitive to external perturbations. At the same time they are sensitive to the…
We perform calculations of electronic structure of Cm$^{15+}$ and Bk$^{16+}$ ions and demonstrate that they have transitions which combine the features of atomic optical clocks with the enhanced sensitivity to the variations of the fine…
We experimentally demonstrate a cavity-based detection scheme for a cold atomic ensemble with a radiatively open transition. Our method exploits the collective strong coupling of atoms to the cavity mode, which results in off-resonant…
The $5S_{1/2}\rightarrow 5D_{5/2}$ two-photon transition in Rb is of interest for the development of a compact optical atomic clock. Here we present a rigorous calculation of the 778.1~nm ac-Stark shift ($2.30(4)…
The atomic spectra and structure of the open d- and f-shell elements are extremely complex, where tens of thousands of transitions between fine structure energy levels can be observed as spectral lines across the infrared and UV per…