Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 45: Precision Measurement and Metrology 2

Q 45.2: Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 11:00–11:15, HÜL 386

Realistic Test of a Transportable 1 Hz-Linewidth Laser — •Stefan Vogt¹, Christian Lisdat¹, Thomas Legero¹, Sebastian Häfner¹, Uwe Sterr¹, Ingo Ernsting², Alexander Nevsky², and Stephan Schiller² — ¹Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany — ²Institut für Experimentalphysik, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

Optical clocks based on trapped cold atoms are now outperforming the best microwave clocks. So far these clocks have been only available in dedicated laboratories. Operating them in space and on the ground at different locations would enable new studies and applications, like relativistic geodesy and improved fundamental physics tests. We present the setup of a transportable clock laser at 698 nm for a strontium lattice clock that was developed within the ESA/DLR project "Space Optical Clocks". A master-slave diode laser system is stabilized to a rigidly mounted optical reference cavity. For a realistic test, this setup was transported by truck over 400 km from Braunschweig to Düsseldorf, where the cavity-stabilized laser was compared to a stationary Yb-clock laser at 578 nm. The lasers were compared by a Ti:Sapphire frequency comb used as a transfer oscillator. This setup allowed generating a virtual beat between these lasers which showed a combined linewidth below 1 Hz. We will present the setup and discuss the ongoing activities towards a complete transportable optical clock. The work is supported by the Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research (QUEST) and the ERA-NET Plus Programme.