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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 49: Precision Spectroscopy of Atoms and Ions IV (joint session A/Q)
Q 49.6: Talk
Thursday, March 14, 2024, 15:45–16:00, HS 1098
An optical clock for robust operation and remote comparisons — •Saaswath JK, Martin Steinel, Melina Filzinger, Jian Jiang, Ekkehard Peik, Nils Huntemann, and the Opticlock consortium — Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany
We report on a transportable and easy-to-operate optical clock that uses the 2S1/2−2D3/2 transition of a single trapped 171Yb+ ion at 436 nm as the reference. The system has been developed within a pilot project for quantum technology in Germany led by industry and is set up in two 19" racks [1]. In this way, transportation can easily be realized, and the large degree of automatization allows for robust operation. Comparisons to existing high-accuracy optical clock systems at PTB enabled verification of the clock’s uncertainty budget at the low 10−17 level. During these tests, operation with 99.8% availability over more than 14 days has been achieved. Furthermore, the system has been operated for a significant fraction of the year 2023, enabling a very accurate determination of its frequency and contributions to timescales. We are currently improving the robustness of the setup and reducing uncertainties of shifts from thermal radiation and electric field gradients. This prepares Opticlock well for transportation to Finnland and Czechia, where it will be compared to other high-performance optical clocks. This will demonstrate a novel approach for key comparisons in time and frequency.
[1] J. Stuhler, et al. Measurement: Sensors 18, 100264 (2021)
Keywords: Optical clocks; Trapped ions; Frequency comb; Transportable atomic clock; Ytterbium spectroscopy