A compact cold atom cavity clock

A. Bregazzi; E. Batori; B. Lewis; C. Affolderbach; G. Mileti; P. Griffin; E. Riis

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2889/1/012034

A compact cold atom cavity clock

A. Bregazzi, E. Batori, B. Lewis, C. Affolderbach, G. Mileti, P. Griffin, E. Riis^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › peer-review

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Abstract

A sample of laser cooled atoms are created inside an additively manufactured loop-gap microwave cavity using a grating magneto-optic trap requiring only a single laser cooling beam. Using a Ramsey excitation scheme with free evolution times of up to 20 ms and based on the 87Rb ground-state clock transition, we demonstrate a short-term stability of 1.5×10−11τ−1/2, averaging down to 2×10−12 after 100 s. The short-term stability limit is found to be dominated by the signal to noise ratio of the Ramsey fringes while for longer timescales the limitation is magnetic field noise due to the experiment being magnetically unshielded. Potential improvements to the setup and its operation point to a viable route forward for a miniaturised atomic microwave clock.

Original language	English
Article number	012034
Journal	Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume	2889
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2889/1/012034
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2024
Event	9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology - Kingscliff, Australia Duration: 16 Oct 2023 → 20 Oct 2023

Funding

A.B. was supported by a Ph.D. studentship from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (dstl). E. B., C.A. and G.M. acknowledge funding from the European space Agency (ESA, Contract No. 4000131046) and the Swiss Space Office (Swiss Confederation). We gratefully acknowledge funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the International Network for Microfabrication of Atomic Quantum Sensors (EPSRC EP/W026929/1)

Keywords

Ramsey excitation scheme
stability limit
atomic microwave clock

Access to Document

10.1088/1742-6596/2889/1/012034Licence: CC BY 4.0

Bregazzi-etal-2024-A-compact-cold-atom-cavity-clockFinal published version, 556 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "A compact cold atom cavity clock",

abstract = "A sample of laser cooled atoms are created inside an additively manufactured loop-gap microwave cavity using a grating magneto-optic trap requiring only a single laser cooling beam. Using a Ramsey excitation scheme with free evolution times of up to 20 ms and based on the 87Rb ground-state clock transition, we demonstrate a short-term stability of 1.5×10−11τ−1/2, averaging down to 2×10−12 after 100 s. The short-term stability limit is found to be dominated by the signal to noise ratio of the Ramsey fringes while for longer timescales the limitation is magnetic field noise due to the experiment being magnetically unshielded. Potential improvements to the setup and its operation point to a viable route forward for a miniaturised atomic microwave clock.",

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AU - Bregazzi, A.

AU - Batori, E.

AU - Lewis, B.

AU - Affolderbach, C.

AU - Mileti, G.

AU - Griffin, P.

AU - Riis, E.

PY - 2024/11/1

Y1 - 2024/11/1

N2 - A sample of laser cooled atoms are created inside an additively manufactured loop-gap microwave cavity using a grating magneto-optic trap requiring only a single laser cooling beam. Using a Ramsey excitation scheme with free evolution times of up to 20 ms and based on the 87Rb ground-state clock transition, we demonstrate a short-term stability of 1.5×10−11τ−1/2, averaging down to 2×10−12 after 100 s. The short-term stability limit is found to be dominated by the signal to noise ratio of the Ramsey fringes while for longer timescales the limitation is magnetic field noise due to the experiment being magnetically unshielded. Potential improvements to the setup and its operation point to a viable route forward for a miniaturised atomic microwave clock.

AB - A sample of laser cooled atoms are created inside an additively manufactured loop-gap microwave cavity using a grating magneto-optic trap requiring only a single laser cooling beam. Using a Ramsey excitation scheme with free evolution times of up to 20 ms and based on the 87Rb ground-state clock transition, we demonstrate a short-term stability of 1.5×10−11τ−1/2, averaging down to 2×10−12 after 100 s. The short-term stability limit is found to be dominated by the signal to noise ratio of the Ramsey fringes while for longer timescales the limitation is magnetic field noise due to the experiment being magnetically unshielded. Potential improvements to the setup and its operation point to a viable route forward for a miniaturised atomic microwave clock.

KW - Ramsey excitation scheme

KW - stability limit

KW - atomic microwave clock

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DO - 10.1088/1742-6596/2889/1/012034

M3 - Conference article

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VL - 2889

JO - Journal of Physics: Conference Series

JF - Journal of Physics: Conference Series

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T2 - 9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology

Y2 - 16 October 2023 through 20 October 2023

ER -

A compact cold atom cavity clock

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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International Network for Microfabrication of Atomic Quantum Sensors (International networks in quantum technologies)

Cite this

A compact cold atom cavity clock

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

International Network for Microfabrication of Atomic Quantum Sensors (International networks in quantum technologies)

Cite this