Publications (17)
A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock
William Bowden, Richard Hobson, Ian R. Hill +6
We realize a two-stage, hexagonal pyramid magneto-optical trap (MOT) with strontium, and demonstrate loading of cold atoms into cavity-enhanced 1D and 2D optical lattice traps, all…
A strontium optical lattice clock with uncertainty and measurement of its absolute frequency
Richard Hobson, William Bowden, Alissa Silva +5
We present a measurement of the absolute frequency of the 5s S to 5s5p P transition in Sr, which is a secondary representation of the SI second. We descr…
Absolute frequency measurement of the SF optical clock transition in Yb with an uncertainty of using a frequency link to International Atomic Time
Charles F. A. Baynham, Rachel M. Godun, Jonathan M. Jones +8
The highly forbidden SF electric octupole transition in Yb is a potential candidate for a redefinition of the SI second. We present a…
A low maintenance Sr optical lattice clock
Ian R. Hill, Richard Hobson, William Bowden +4
We describe the Sr optical lattice clock apparatus at NPL with particular emphasis on techniques used to increase reliability and minimise the human requirement in its operation. C…
Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices I (ASTROD I) - A class-M fundamental physics mission proposal for Cosmic Vision 2015-2025
Thierry Appourchaux, Raymond Burston, Yanbei Chen +33
ASTROD I is a planned interplanetary space mission with multiple goals. The primary aims are: to test General Relativity with an improvement in sensitivity of over 3 orders of magn…
Robust frequency stabilization of multiple spectroscopy lasers with large and tunable offset frequencies
Alexander Nevsky, Soroosh Alighanbari, Qun-Feng Chen +7
We demonstrate a compact and robust device for simultaneous absolute frequency stabilization of three diode lasers whose carrier frequencies can be chosen freely relative to the re…
Suppression of amplitude-to-phase noise conversion in balanced optical-microwave phase detectors
Maurice Lessing, Helen S. Margolis, C. Tom A. Brown +2
We demonstrate an amplitude-to-phase (AM-PM) conversion coefficient for a balanced optical-microwave phase detector (BOM-PD) of 0.001 rad, corresponding to AM-PM induced phase nois…
Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry: Summary of the Second Workshop
Adam Abdalla, Mahiro Abe, Sven Abend +307
This summary of the second Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry (TVLBAI) Workshop provides a comprehensive overview of our meeting held in London in April 2024, build…
Analysis of thermal radiation in ion traps for optical frequency standards
Miroslav Doležal, Petr Balling, Peter B R Nisbet-Jones +16
In many of the high-precision optical frequency standards with trapped atoms or ions that are under development to date, the AC Stark shift induced by thermal radiation leads to a…
Cavity-enhanced non-destructive detection of atoms for an optical lattice clock
Richard Hobson, William Bowden, Alvise Vianello +2
We demonstrate a new method of cavity-enhanced non-destructive detection of atoms for a strontium optical lattice clock. The detection scheme is shown to be linear in atom number u…
Cold Atoms in Space: Community Workshop Summary and Proposed Road-Map
Ivan Alonso, Cristiano Alpigiani, Brett Altschul +246
We summarize the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportu…
Rydberg Electrometry for Optical Lattice Clocks
William Bowden, Richard Hobson, Paul Huillery +3
Electrometry is performed using Rydberg states to evaluate the quadratic Stark shift of the clock transition in strontium. By measurin…
A mid-infrared magneto-optical trap of metastable strontium for an optical lattice clock
Richard Hobson, William Bowden, Alvise Vianello +2
We report on the realization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for metastable strontium operating on the 2.92 m transition between the energy levels and $5s…
Force-insensitive optical cavity
Stephen Webster, Patrick Gill
We describe a rigidly-mounted optical cavity which is insensitive to inertial forces acting in any direction and to the compressive force used to constrain it. The design is based…
An ion trap design for a space-deployable strontium-ion optical clock
Alessio Spampinato, Jonathan Stacey, Sean Mulholland +5
Optical atomic clocks demonstrate a better stability and lower systematic uncertainty than the highest performance microwave atomic clocks. However, the best performing optical clo…
International comparison of optical frequencies with transportable optical lattice clocks
International Clock, Oscillator Networking, Collaboration +37
Optical clocks have improved their frequency stability and estimated accuracy by more than two orders of magnitude over the best caesium microwave clocks that realise the SI second…
Zeeman Slowers for Strontium based on Permanent Magnets
Ian R. Hill, Yuri B. Ovchinnikov, Elizabeth M. Bridge +2
We present the design, construction, and characterisation of longitudinal- and transverse-field Zeeman slowers, based on arrays of permanent magnets, for slowing thermal beams of a…