We consider the frequency shift in optical lattice clocks which arises from
the coupling of the electronic motion to the atomic motion within the lattice.
For the simplest of 3-D lattice geometries this coupling is shown to only
affect clocks based on blue-detuned lattices. We have estimated the size of
this shift for the prospective strontium lattice clock operating at the 390 nm
blue-detuned magic wavelength. The resulting fractional frequency shift is
found to be on the order of 10−18 and is largely overshadowed by the
electric quadrupole shift. For lattice clocks based on more complex geometries
or other atomic systems, this shift could potentially be a limiting factor in
clock accuracy.Comment: 5 page