136 research outputs found
A phase-locked frequency divide-by-3 optical parametric oscillator
Accurate phase-locked 3:1 division of an optical frequency was achieved, by
using a continuous-wave (cw) doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator. A
fractional frequency stability of 2*10^(-17) of the division process has been
achieved for 100s integration time. The technique developed in this work can be
generalized to the accurate phase and frequency control of any cw optical
parametric oscillator.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures in a postscript file. To appear in a special issue
of IEEE Trans. Instr. & Meas., paper FRIA-2 presented at CPEM'2000
conference, Sydney, May 200
Influence of optical aberrations in an atomic gyroscope
In atom interferometry based on light-induced diffraction, the optical
aberrations of the laser beam splitters are a dominant source of noise and
systematic effect. In an atomic gyroscope, this effect is dramatically reduced
by the use of two atomic sources. But it remains critical while coupled to
fluctuations of atomic trajectories, and appears as a main source of noise to
the long term stability. Therefore we measure these contributions in our setup,
using cold Cesium atoms and stimulated Raman transitions
Feshbach resonances in Cesium at Ultra-low Static Magnetic Fields
We have observed Feshbach resonances for 133Cs atoms in two different
hyperfine states at ultra-low static magnetic fields by using an atomic
fountain clock. The extreme sensitivity of our setup allows for high
signal-to-noise-ratio observations at densities of only 2*10^7 cm^{-3}. We have
reproduced these resonances using coupled-channels calculations which are in
excellent agreement with our measurements. We justify that these are s-wave
resonances involving weakly-bound states of the triplet molecular Hamiltonian,
identify the resonant closed channels, and explain the observed multi-peak
structure. We also describe a model which precisely accounts for the
collisional processes in the fountain and which explains the asymmetric shape
of the observed Feshbach resonances in the regime where the kinetic energy
dominates over the coupling strength.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
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
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
6-axis inertial sensor using cold-atom interferometry
We have developed an atom interferometer providing a full inertial base. This
device uses two counter-propagating cold-atom clouds that are launched in
strongly curved parabolic trajectories. Three single Raman beam pairs, pulsed
in time, are successively applied in three orthogonal directions leading to the
measurement of the three axis of rotation and acceleration. In this purpose, we
introduce a new atom gyroscope using a butterfly geometry. We discuss the
present sensitivity and the possible improvements.Comment: submitted to PR
Measurement of the Blackbody Radiation Shift of the 133Cs Hyperfine Transition in an Atomic Fountain
We used a Cs atomic fountain frequency standard to measure the Stark shift on
the ground state hyperfine transiton frequency in cesium (9.2 GHz) due to the
electric field generated by the blackbody radiation. The measures relative
shift at 300 K is -1.43(11)e-14 and agrees with our theoretical evaluation
-1.49(07)e-14. This value differs from the currently accepted one
-1.69(04)e-14. The difference has a significant implication on the accuracy of
frequency standards, in clocks comparison, and in a variety of high precision
physics tests such as the time stability of fundamental constants.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
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
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
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