196 research outputs found
Controlling the cold collision shift in high precision atomic interferometry
We present here a new method based on a transfer of population by adiabatic
passage that allows to prepare cold atomic samples with a well defined ratio of
atomic density and atom number. This method is used to perform a measurement of
the cold collision frequency shift in a laser cooled cesium clock at the
percent level, which makes the evaluation of the cesium fountains accuracy at
the level realistic. With an improved set-up, the adiabatic passage
would allow measurements of atom number-dependent phase shifts at the
level in high precision experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Interference-filter-stabilized external-cavity diode lasers
We have developed external-cavity diode lasers, where the wavelength
selection is assured by a low loss interference filter instead of the common
diffraction grating. The filter allows a linear cavity design reducing the
sensitivity of the wavelength and the external cavity feedback against
misalignment. By separating the feedback and wavelength selection functions,
both can be optimized independently leading to an increased tunability of the
laser. The design is employed for the generation of laser light at 698, 780 and
852 nm. Its characteristics make it a well suited candidate for space-born
lasers.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Ultrastable lasers based on vibration insensitive cavities
We present two ultra-stable lasers based on two vibration insensitive cavity
designs, one with vertical optical axis geometry, the other horizontal.
Ultra-stable cavities are constructed with fused silica mirror substrates,
shown to decrease the thermal noise limit, in order to improve the frequency
stability over previous designs. Vibration sensitivity components measured are
equal to or better than 1.5e-11 per m.s^-2 for each spatial direction, which
shows significant improvement over previous studies. We have tested the very
low dependence on the position of the cavity support points, in order to
establish that our designs eliminate the need for fine tuning to achieve
extremely low vibration sensitivity. Relative frequency measurements show that
at least one of the stabilized lasers has a stability better than 5.6e-16 at 1
second, which is the best result obtained for this length of cavity.Comment: 8 pages 12 figure
From Optical Lattice Clocks to the Measurement of Forces in the Casimir Regime
We propose a novel experiment based on atoms trapped close to a macroscopic surface, to study the interactions between the atoms and the surface at very small separations (0.6 to 10 m). In this range the dominant potential is the QED interaction (Casimir-Polder and Van der Waals) between the surface and the atom. Additionally, several theoretical models suggest the possibility of Yukawa type potentials with sub-mm range, arising from new physics related to gravity. We propose a set-up very similar to neutral atom optical lattice clocks, but with the atoms trapped in lattice sites close to the reflecting mirror. A sequence of pulses of the probe laser at different frequencies is then used to create an interferometer with a coherent superposition between atomic states at different distances from the mirror. Assuming state of the art measurements, we expect that such an experiment would improve the best existing measurements of the atom-wall QED interaction by ≥2 orders of magnitude, whilst gaining up to 4 orders of magnitude on the best present limits on new interactions in the range between 100 nm and 100 m
An Optical Lattice Clock with Spin-polarized 87Sr Atoms
We present a new evaluation of an 87Sr optical lattice clock using spin
polarized atoms. The frequency of the 1S0-3P0 clock transition is found to be
429 228 004 229 873.6 Hz with a fractional accuracy of 2.6 10^{-15}, a value
that is comparable to the frequency difference between the various primary
standards throughout the world. This measurement is in excellent agreement with
a previous one of similar accuracy
Phonon Networks with Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Diamond Waveguides
We propose and analyze a novel realization of a solid-state quantum network, where separated silicon-vacancy centers are coupled via the phonon modes of a quasi-one-dimensional diamond waveguide. In our approach, quantum states encoded in long-lived electronic spin states can be converted into propagating phonon wave packets and be reabsorbed efficiently by a distant defect center. Our analysis shows that under realistic conditions, this approach enables the implementation of high-fidelity, scalable quantum communication protocols within chip-scale spin-qubit networks. Apart from quantum information processing, this setup constitutes a novel waveguide QED platform, where strong-coupling effects between solid-state defects and individual propagating phonons can be explored at the quantum level
Very long storage times and evaporative cooling of cesium atoms in a quasi-electrostatic dipole trap
We have trapped cesium atoms over many minutes in the focus of a CO-laser
beam employing an extremely simple laser system. Collisional properties of the
unpolarized atoms in their electronic ground state are investigated. Inelastic
binary collisions changing the hyperfine state lead to trap loss which is
quantitatively analyzed. Elastic collisions result in evaporative cooling of
the trapped gas from 25 K to 10 K over a time scale of about 150 s.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
A Search for Variations of Fundamental Constants using Atomic Fountain Clocks
Over five years we have compared the hyperfine frequencies of 133Cs and 87Rb
atoms in their electronic ground state using several laser cooled 133Cs and
87Rb atomic fountains with an accuracy of ~10^{-15}. These measurements set a
stringent upper bound to a possible fractional time variation of the ratio
between the two frequencies : (d/dt)ln(nu_Rb/nu_Cs)=(0.2 +/- 7.0)*10^{-16}
yr^{-1} (1 sigma uncertainty). The same limit applies to a possible variation
of the quantity (mu_Rb/mu_Cs)*alpha^{-0.44}, which involves the ratio of
nuclear magnetic moments and the fine structure constant.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Optical Clocks in Space
The performance of optical clocks has strongly progressed in recent years,
and accuracies and instabilities of 1 part in 10^18 are expected in the near
future. The operation of optical clocks in space provides new scientific and
technological opportunities. In particular, an earth-orbiting satellite
containing an ensemble of optical clocks would allow a precision measurement of
the gravitational redshift, navigation with improved precision, mapping of the
earth's gravitational potential by relativistic geodesy, and comparisons
between ground clocks.Comment: Proc. III International Conference on Particle and Fundamental
Physics in Space (SpacePart06), Beijing 19 - 21 April 2006, to appear in
Nucl. Phys.
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