Spin-1/2 Optical Lattice Clock

N. D. Lemke; A. D. Ludlow; Z. W. Barber; T. M. Fortier; S. A. Diddams; Y. Jiang; S. R. Jefferts; T. P. Heavner; T. E. Parker; C. W. Oates

arXiv · 0906.1219

Spin-1/2 Optical Lattice Clock

N. D. Lemke·A. D. Ludlow·Z. W. Barber·T. M. Fortier·S. A. Diddams·Y. Jiang·S. R. Jefferts·T. P. Heavner·T. E. Parker·C. W. Oates

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Abstract

We experimentally investigate an optical clock based on $^{171}$Yb ($I=1/2$) atoms confined in an optical lattice. We have evaluated all known frequency shifts to the clock transition, including a density-dependent collision shift, with a fractional uncertainty of $3.4 \times 10^{-16}$, limited principally by uncertainty in the blackbody radiation Stark shift. We measured the absolute clock transition frequency relative to the NIST-F1 Cs fountain clock and find the frequency to be 518 295 836 590 865.2(0.7) Hz.

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N. D. Lemke, A. D. Ludlow, Z. W. Barber, T. M. Fortier, S. A. Diddams, Y. Jiang, S. R. Jefferts, T. P. Heavner, T. E. Parker, C. W. Oates. 2009-07-25. Spin-1/2 Optical Lattice Clock. https://arxiv.org/abs/0906.1219

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