Making optical atomic clocks more stable with $10^{-16}$ level laser stabilization

Abstract

The superb precision of an atomic clock is derived from its stability. Atomic clocks based on optical (rather than microwave) frequencies are attractive because of their potential for high stability, which scales with operational frequency. Nevertheless, optical clocks have not yet realized this vast potential, due in large part to limitations of the laser used to excite the atomic resonance. To address this problem, we demonstrate a cavity-stabilized laser system with a reduced thermal noise floor, exhibiting a fractional frequency instability of $2\times 10^{-16}$. We use this laser as a stable optical source in a Yb optical lattice clock to resolve an ultranarrow 1 Hz transition linewidth. With the stable laser source and the signal to noise ratio (S/N) afforded by the Yb optical clock, we dramatically reduce key stability limitations of the clock, and make measurements consistent with a clock instability of $5\times 10^{-16}/\sqrt{\tau }$.

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• Sr lattice clock at 1x10^{-16} fractional uncertainty by remote optical evaluation with a Ca clock
• Quantum State Engineering and Precision Metrology using State-Insensitive Light Traps
• Compact, thermal-noise-limited optical cavity for diode laser stabilization at 1 x 10-15
• Optical atomic coherence at the one-second time scale
• Tuning the Thermal Expansion Properties of Optical Reference Cavities with Fused Silica Mirrors

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