Colloquium: Physics of optical lattice clocks

Abstract

Recently invented and demonstrated, optical lattice clocks hold great promise for improving the precision of modern timekeeping. These clocks aim at the 10^-18 fractional accuracy, which translates into a clock that would neither lose or gain a fraction of a second over an estimated age of the Universe. In these clocks, millions of atoms are trapped and interrogated simultaneously, dramatically improving clock stability. Here we discuss the principles of operation of these clocks and, in particular, a novel concept of "magic" trapping of atoms in optical lattices. We also highlight recently proposed microwave lattice clocks and several applications that employ the optical lattice clocks as a platform for precision measurements and quantum information processing.

18 pages, 15 figures

References in corpus (27)

• Sr lattice clock at 1x10^{-16} fractional uncertainty by remote optical evaluation with a Ca clock
• Measurement of the Temperature Dependence of the Casimir-Polder Force
• Quantum State Engineering and Precision Metrology using State-Insensitive Light Traps
• New Limits on Coupling of Fundamental Constants to Gravity Using ${}^{87}$Sr Optical Lattice Clocks
• Quantum computing with alkaline earth atoms
• Multipolar theory of black-body radiation shift of atomic energy levels and its implications for optical lattice clocks
• Trapping of Neutral Mercury Atoms and Prospects for Optical Lattice Clocks
• Optical Lattice Induced Light Shifts in an Yb Atomic Clock
• Alkaline-Earth-Metal Atoms as Few-Qubit Quantum Registers
• The absolute frequency of the 87Sr optical clock transition
• Optical clocks based on ultra-narrow three-photon resonances in alkaline earth atoms
• Improved frequency measurement of a one-dimensional optical lattice clock with a spin-polarized fermionic ${}^{87}$Sr isotope
• Probing Interactions between Ultracold Fermions
• Measuring the frequency of a Sr optical lattice clock using a 120-km coherent optical transfer
• An Optical Lattice Clock with Spin-polarized 87Sr Atoms
• One-Dimensional Optical Lattice Clock with a Fermionic 171Yb Isotope
• Doppler-free spectroscopy of the 1S0-3P0 optical clock transition in laser-cooled fermionic isotopes of neutral mercury
• Decoherence and Collisional Frequency Shifts of Trapped Bosons and Fermions
• Experimental observation of magic-wavelength behavior in optical lattice-trapped ${}^{87}$Rb
• Magic frequencies for cesium primary frequency standard
• Multimode entanglement of light and atomic ensembles via off-resonant coherent forward scattering
• Spin squeezing in optical lattice clocks via lattice-based QND measurements
• A quantum sensor for atom-surface interactions below 10 $\mu$m
• Micromagic clock: microwave clock based on atoms in an engineered optical lattice
• Electrodynamic trapping of spinless neutral atoms with an atom chip
• Coherence of Spin-Polarized Fermions Interacting with a Clock Laser in a Stark-Shift-Free Optical Lattice
• Possibility of "magic" co-trapping of two atomic species in optical lattices

Cited by in corpus (136)

• Ultracold Fermi Gases with Emergent SU(N) Symmetry
• Optimal adaptive control for quantum metrology with time-dependent Hamiltonians
• Quantum Magnetism with Polar Alkali Dimers
• Cold and trapped metastable noble gases
• A high-performance optical lattice clock based on bosonic atoms
• Detecting dark matter waves with precision measurement tools
• Rotation of quantum impurities in the presence of a many-body environment
• Highly-charged ions as a basis of optical atomic clockwork of exceptional accuracy
• Frequency measurements of superradiance from the strontium clock transition
• Production of quantum degenerate strontium gases: Larger, better, faster, colder
• Quantum Computing and Quantum Simulation with Group-II Atoms
• Proton-electron mass ratio by high-resolution optical spectroscopy of ion ensembles in the resolved-carrier regime
• Optimal measurements for quantum multiparameter estimation with general states
• Nonlinear quantum interferometry with Bose condensed atoms
• Optimal Scheme for Quantum Metrology
• Heisenberg limited single-mode quantum metrology
• Additional clock transitions in neutral ytterbium bring new possibilities for testing physics beyond the Standard Model
• Doppler- and recoil-free laser excitation of Rydberg states via three-photon transitions
• Searches for topological defect dark matter via non-gravitational signatures
• High-fidelity rapid ground-state loading of an ultracold gas into an optical lattice
• Determination of the 5d6s 3D1 state lifetime and blackbody radiation clock shift in Yb
• Cavity-Enhanced Long-Distance Coupling of an Atomic Ensemble to a Micromechanical Membrane
• Deterministic single-atom excitation via adiabatic passage and Rydberg blockade
• Rydberg Spectroscopy in an Optical Lattice: Blackbody Thermometry for Atomic Clocks
• Progress and perspectives on composite laser-pulses spectroscopy for high-accuracy optical clocks
• High temperature thermodynamics of fermionic alkaline earth atoms in optical lattices
• Extended coherence time on the clock transition of optically trapped Rubidium
• High-precision atomic clocks with highly charged ions: nuclear spin-zero $f^{12}$-shell ions
• Shortcut loading atoms into an optical lattice
• A high flux source of cold strontium atoms
• Adiabatic loading of one-dimensional SU(N) alkaline earth fermions in optical lattices
• Active optical frequency standard using sequential coupling of atomic ensembles
• Echo-Ramsey Interferometry with Motional Quantum States
• Ultra-high Resolution Spectroscopy with atomic or molecular Dark Resonances: Exact steady-state lineshapes and asymptotic profiles in the adiabatic pulsed regime
• Orbital optical lattices with bosons
• Effective preparation and collisional decay of atomic condensate in excited bands of an optical lattice
• Recoil-limited feedback cooling of single nanoparticles near the ground state in an optical lattice
• Ion clock and search for the variation of the fine structure constant using optical transitions in Nd${}^{13+}$ and Sm${}^{15+}$
• Reservoir spectroscopy of 5s5p ${}^3$P${}_2$ - 5s$n$d ${}^3$D${}_{1,2,3}$ transitions in strontium
• Frequency Shifts due to Stark Effects on a Rb two-photon transition
• Combination of the single-double coupled cluster and the configuration interaction methods; application to barium, lutetium and their ions
• Mapping the absolute magnetic field and evaluating the quadratic Zeeman effect induced systematic error in an atom interferometer gravimeter
• State-dependent interactions in ultracold ${}^{174}$Yb probed by optical clock spectroscopy
• Generalized Hyper-Ramsey Resonance with separated oscillating fields
• Quantum metrology in local dissipative environments
• Probe light-shift elimination in Generalized Hyper-Ramsey quantum clocks
• On the prospects of building optical atomic clocks using Er I or Er III
• Optimal quantum operations at zero energy cost
• Probing new physics using Rydberg states of atomic hydrogen
• Observation of vector and tensor light shifts in 87Rb using near-resonant, stimulated Raman spectroscopy
• Spatial Pauli-blocking of spontaneous emission in optical lattices
• Improved magneto-optical trapping of Ca
• Magneto-optical trapping of optically pumped metastable europium
• Coqblin-Schrieffer Model for an Ultra-cold Gas of Ytterbium atoms with Metastable States
• Entanglement-enhanced magnetic induction tomography
• Control of Optical Transitions with Magnetic Fields in Weakly Bound Molecules
• Transition properties of potassium atom
• Laser Cooling of Transition Metal Atoms
• Characteristics of long-lived persistent spectral holes in $E{u}^{3+}:Y_{2}Si{O}_5$ at $1.2K$
• Locking the frequency of lasers to an optical cavity at the $1.6\times 10^{-17}$ relative instability level
• Feedback Ansatz for Adaptive-Feedback Quantum Metrology Training with Machine Learning
• Optical-lattice based Cs active clock with continual superradiant lasing signal
• Self-assembled Zeeman slower based on spherical permanent magnets
• Searching for New Physics Through AMO Precision Measurements
• Strongly resonant RABBITT on lithium
• New Atomic probes for Dark Matter detection: Axions, Axion-like particles and Topological Defects
• Static and dynamic polarizabilities of Yb-ion]{Accurate determination of black-body radiation shift, magic and tune-out wavelengths for the $6{\mathrm{S}}_{1/2}\to 5{\mathrm{D}}_{3/2}$ clock transition in Yb${}^{+}$
• Quantum engineering of atomic phase-shifts in optical clocks
• Divalent Rydberg atoms in optical lattices: intensity landscape and magic trapping
• Magic radio-frequency dressing of nuclear spins in high-accuracy optical clocks
• Intensity landscape and the possibility of magic trapping of alkali Rydberg atoms in infrared optical lattices
• Stability analysis for bad cavity lasers using inhomogeneously broadened spin-1/2 atoms as gain medium
• Universal ultra-robust interrogation protocol with zero probe-field-induced frequency shift for quantum clocks and high-accuracy spectroscopy
• Engineering field-insensitive molecular clock transitions for symmetry violation searches
• Atomic clocks and dark-matter signatures
• Transition rates and radiative lifetimes of Ca I
• Prospects for a bad cavity laser using a large ion crystal
• Triply magic conditions for microwave transitions of optically trapped alkali-metal atoms
• Coherent control of reactive scattering at low temperatures: Signatures of quantum interference in the differential cross sections for F + H2 and F + HD
• Magic and tune-out wavelengths for atomic francium
• Electric dipole transition amplitudes for atoms and ions with one valence electron
• Quantum beat spectroscopy: stimulated emission probe of hyperfine quantum beats in the atomic Cs 8p ${}^2{P}_{3/2}$ level
• One-dimensional two-orbital SU(N) ultracold fermionic quantum gases at incommensurate filling: a low-energy approach
• QED radiative corrections to electric dipole amplitudes in heavy atoms
• Engineering quantum control with twisted-light fields induced optical transitions
• Finite field calculations of static polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities of In${}^{+}$ and Sr
• Searches for New Particles Including Dark Matter with Atomic, Molecular and Optical Systems
• Extending the coherence time limit of a single-alkali-atom qubit by suppressing phonon-jumping-induced decoherence
• A simplified cryogenic optical resonator apparatus providing ultra-low frequency drift
• Dispersive probing of driven pseudo-spin dynamics in a gradient field
• Measurement of the Hyperfine Quenching Rate of the Clock Transition in ${}^{171}$Yb
• Adiabatic spin-dependent momentum transfer in an SU(N) degenerate Fermi gas
• Observations of $\lambda /4$ structure in a low-loss radiofrequency-dressed optical lattice
• Possibility of triple magic trapping of clock and Rydberg states of divalent atoms in optical lattices
• Atomic momentum patterns with narrower interval
• Nearly nondestructive thermometry of labeled cold atoms and application to isotropic laser cooling
• Carrier-free Raman manipulation of trapped neutral atoms
• Quantum lock-in detection of a vector light shift
• Prospects for measuring the electron's electric dipole moment with polyatomic molecules in an optical lattice
• Composite pulses in Hyper-Ramsey spectroscopy for the next generation of atomic clocks
• Ultimate limit on time signal generation
• Bi-color atomic beam slower and magnetic field compensation for ultracold gases
• The dynamics of three-level $\Lambda$-type system driven by the trains of ultrashort laser pulses
• Van der Waals molecules consisting of a zinc or cadmium atom interacting with an alkali-metal or alkaline-earth-metal atom
• Subpicosecond $X$ rotations of atomic clock states
• Study to improve the performance of interferometer with ultra-cold atoms
• Doppler-free spectroscopy of metastable Sr atoms using a hollow cathode lamp
• A versatile laser system for experiments with cold atomic gases
• External field control of spin-dependent rotational decoherence of ultracold polar molecules
• Progress towards a matter wave interferometer for inertial sensing with non-destructive monitoring of Bloch oscillations
• Composite particles with minimum uncertainty in spacetime
• Fully Collective Superradiant Lasing with Vanishing Sensitivity to Cavity Length Vibrations
• Plane-selective manipulations of nuclear spin qubits in a three-dimensional optical tweezer array
• Effective multi-body SU($N$)-symmetric interactions of ultracold fermionic atoms on a 3-D lattice
• Aspects of Superfluid Cold Atomic Gases in Optical Lattices
• Possibility of "magic" trapping of three-level system for Rydberg blockade implementation
• A simplified method for calculating the ac Stark shift of hyperfine levels
• Quantum Non-Demolition Measurement on the Spin Precession of Laser-Trapped ${}^{171}$Yb Atoms
• Fluctuation-enhanced quantum metrology
• Near-resonant light scattering by an atom in a state-dependent trap
• Achieving Heisenberg limit under General Markov Noise without Ancilla
• Gate fidelity, dephasing, and "magic" trapping of optically trapped neutral atom
• Quantum metrology of a structured reservoir
• Scattering lengths of calcium and barium isotopes
• Robust two-dimensional subrecoil Raman cooling by adiabatic transfer in a tripod atomic system
• Surface scattering of atoms for high-sensitivity spectroscopy
• Effective light-induced Hamiltonian for atoms with large nuclear spin
• Cyclotron Dynamics of a Kondo Singlet in a Spin-Orbit-Coupled Alkaline-Earth Atomic Gas
• Collectively enhanced ground-state cooling in subwavelength atomic arrays
• 100-ns-level timing holdover after 12 years for rubidium atomic fountains
• Magic trapping of a Rydberg ion with a diminished static polarizability
• Engineered Molecular Clock Transitions for Symmetry Violation Searches
• Optimal quantum precision in noise estimation: Is entanglement necessary?
• On the feasibility of detecting quantum delocalization effects on relativistic time dilation in optical clocks
• Quasi-integrability and nonlinear resonances in cold atoms under modulation
• Precision metrology of weak measurement with thermal state pointer