53 research outputs found
An experimental study of intermodulation effects in an atomic fountain frequency standard
The short-term stability of passive atomic frequency standards, especially in
pulsed operation, is often limited by local oscillator noise via
intermodulation effects. We present an experimental demonstration of the
intermodulation effect on the frequency stability of a continuous atomic
fountain clock where, under normal operating conditions, it is usually too
small to observe. To achieve this, we deliberately degrade the phase stability
of the microwave field interrogating the clock transition. We measure the
frequency stability of the locked, commercial-grade local oscillator, for two
modulation schemes of the microwave field: square-wave phase modulation and
square-wave frequency modulation. We observe a degradation of the stability
whose dependence with the modulation frequency reproduces the theoretical
predictions for the intermodulation effect. In particular no observable
degradation occurs when this frequency equals the Ramsey linewidth.
Additionally we show that, without added phase noise, the frequency instability
presently equal to 2x10-13 at 1s, is limited by atomic shot-noise and therefore
could be reduced were the atomic flux increased
A new Manifestation of Atomic Parity Violation in Cesium: a Chiral Optical Gain induced by linearly polarized 6S-7S Excitation
We have detected, by using stimulated emission, an Atomic Parity Violation
(APV) in the form of a chiral optical gain of a cesium vapor on the 7S -
6P transition,consecutive to linearly polarized 6S-7S excitation. We
demonstrate the validity of this detection method of APV, by presenting a 9%
accurate measurement of expected sign and magnitude. We underline several
advantages of this entirely new approach in which the cylindrical symmetry of
the set-up can be fully exploited. Future measurements at the percent level
will provide an important cross-check of an existing more precise result
obtained by a different method.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Progress in Atomic Fountains at LNE-SYRTE
We give an overview of the work done with the Laboratoire National de
M\'etrologie et d'Essais-Syst\`emes de R\'ef\'erence Temps-Espace (LNE-SYRTE)
fountain ensemble during the last five years. After a description of the clock
ensemble, comprising three fountains, FO1, FO2, and FOM, and the newest
developments, we review recent studies of several systematic frequency shifts.
This includes the distributed cavity phase shift, which we evaluate for the FO1
and FOM fountains, applying the techniques of our recent work on FO2. We also
report calculations of the microwave lensing frequency shift for the three
fountains, review the status of the blackbody radiation shift, and summarize
recent experimental work to control microwave leakage and spurious phase
perturbations. We give current accuracy budgets. We also describe several
applications in time and frequency metrology: fountain comparisons,
calibrations of the international atomic time, secondary representation of the
SI second based on the 87Rb hyperfine frequency, absolute measurements of
optical frequencies, tests of the T2L2 satellite laser link, and review
fundamental physics applications of the LNE-SYRTE fountain ensemble. Finally,
we give a summary of the tests of the PHARAO cold atom space clock performed
using the FOM transportable fountain.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, 126 reference
Ultra-low noise microwave generation with fiber-based optical frequency comb and application to atomic fountain clock
We demonstrate the use of a fiber-based femtosecond laser locked onto an
ultra-stable optical cavity to generate a low-noise microwave reference signal.
Comparison with both a liquid Helium cryogenic sapphire oscillator (CSO) and a
Ti:Sapphire-based optical frequency comb system exhibit a stability about
between 1 s and 10 s. The microwave signal from the fiber
system is used to perform Ramsey spectroscopy in a state-of-the-art Cesium
fountain clock. The resulting clock system is compared to the CSO and exhibits
a stability of . Our continuously operated
fiber-based system therefore demonstrates its potential to replace the CSO for
atomic clocks with high stability in both the optical and microwave domain,
most particularly for operational primary frequency standards.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Colloquium: Comparison of Astrophysical and Terrestrial Frequency Standards
We have re-analyzed the stability of pulse arrival times from pulsars and
white dwarfs using several analysis tools for measuring the noise
characteristics of sampled time and frequency data. We show that the best
terrestrial artificial clocks substantially exceed the performance of
astronomical sources as time-keepers in terms of accuracy (as defined by cesium
primary frequency standards) and stability. This superiority in stability can
be directly demonstrated over time periods up to two years, where there is high
quality data for both. Beyond 2 years there is a deficiency of data for
clock/clock comparisons and both terrestrial and astronomical clocks show equal
performance being equally limited by the quality of the reference timescales
used to make the comparisons. Nonetheless, we show that detailed accuracy
evaluations of modern terrestrial clocks imply that these new clocks are likely
to have a stability better than any astronomical source up to comparison times
of at least hundreds of years. This article is intended to provide a correct
appreciation of the relative merits of natural and artificial clocks. The use
of natural clocks as tests of physics under the most extreme conditions is
entirely appropriate; however, the contention that these natural clocks,
particularly white dwarfs, can compete as timekeepers against devices
constructed by mankind is shown to be doubtful.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; presented at the International Frequency Control
Symposium, Newport Beach, Calif., June, 2010; presented at Pulsar Conference
2010, October 12th, Sardinia; accepted 13th September 2010 for publication in
Reviews of Modern Physic
Atomic Parity Violation : Principles, Recent Results, Present Motivations
We review the progress made in the determination of the weak charge, Q\_w, of
the cesium nucleus which raises the status of Atomic Parity Violation
measurements to that of a precision electroweak test. Not only is it necessary
to have a precision measurement of the electroweak asymmetry in the highly
forbidden 6S-7S transition, but one also needs a precise calibration procedure.
The 1999 precision measurement by the Boulder group implied a 2.5 sigma
deviation of Q\_w from the theoretical prediction. This triggered many particle
physicist suggestions as well as examination by atomic theoretical physicists
of several sources of corrections. After about three years the disagreement was
removed without appealing to "New Physics". Concurrently, an original
experimental approach was developed in our group for more than a decade. It is
based on detection by stimulated emission with amplification of the left- right
asymmetry. We present our decisive, recent progress together with our latest
results. We emphasize the important impact for electroweak theory, of future
measurements in cesium possibly pushed to the 0.1% level. Other possible
approaches are currently explored in several atoms
Mechanical tuning of the evaporation rate of liquid on crossed fibers
We investigate experimentally the drying of a small volume of perfectly
wetting liquid on two crossed fibers. We characterize the drying dynamics for
the three liquid morphologies that are encountered in this geometry: drop,
column and a mixed morphology, in which a drop and a column coexist. For each
morphology, we rationalize our findings with theoretical models that capture
the drying kinetics. We find that the evaporation rate depends significantly on
the liquid morphology and that the drying of liquid column is faster than the
evaporation of the drop and the mixed morphology for a given liquid volume.
Finally, we illustrate that shearing a network of fibers reduces the angle
between them, changes the morphology towards the column state, and so enhances
the drying rate of a volatile liquid deposited on it
Experimenting an optical second with strontium lattice clocks
Progress in realizing the SI second had multiple technological impacts and
enabled to further constraint theoretical models in fundamental physics.
Caesium microwave fountains, realizing best the second according to its current
definition with a relative uncertainty of 2-4x10^(-16), have already been
superseded by atomic clocks referenced to an optical transition, both more
stable and more accurate. Are we ready for a new definition of the second? Here
we present an important step in this direction: our system of five clocks
connects with an unprecedented consistency the optical and the microwave
worlds. For the first time, two state-of-the-art strontium optical lattice
clocks are proven to agree within their accuracy budget, with a total
uncertainty of 1.6x10^(-16). Their comparison with three independent caesium
fountains shows a degree of reproducibility henceforth solely limited at the
level of 3.1x10^(-16) by the best realizations of the microwave-defined second.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Measurement of the parity violating 6S-7S transition amplitude in cesium achieved within 2 \times 10^{-13} atomic-unit accuracy by stimulated-emission detection
We exploit the process of asymmetry amplification by stimulated emission
which provides an original method for parity violation (PV) measurements in a
highly forbidden atomic transition. The method involves measurements of a
chiral, transient, optical gain of a cesium vapor on the 7S-6P_{3/2}
transition, probed after it is excited by an intense, linearly polarized,
collinear laser, tuned to resonance for one hyperfine line of the forbidden
6S-7S transition in a longitudinal electric field. We report here a 3.5 fold
increase, of the one-second-measurement sensitivity, and subsequent reduction
by a factor of 3.5 of the statistical accuracy compared with our previous
result [J. Gu\'ena et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 143001 (2003)]. Decisive
improvements to the set-up include an increased repetition rate, better
extinction of the probe beam at the end of the probe pulse and, for the first
time to our knowledge, the following: a polarization-tilt magnifier,
quasi-suppression of beam reflections at the cell windows, and a Cs cell with
electrically conductive windows. We also present real-time tests of systematic
effects, consistency checks on the data, as well as a 1% accurate measurement
of the electric field seen by the atoms, from atomic signals. PV measurements
performed in seven different vapor cells agree within the statistical error.
Our present result is compatible with the more precise Boulder result within
our present relative statistical accuracy of 2.6%, corresponding to a 2 \times
10^{-13} atomic-unit uncertainty in E_1^{pv}. Theoretical motivations for
further measurements are emphasized and we give a brief overview of a recent
proposal that would allow the uncertainty to be reduced to the 0.1% level by
creating conditions where asymmetry amplification is much greater.Comment: Article 21 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables Typos, addition of few comments
and little more data (1 week) leading to a slight reduction of the error bar
Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.
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