A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock

William Bowden; Richard Hobson; Ian R. Hill; Alvise Vianello; Marco Schioppo; Alissa Silva; Helen S. Margolis; Patrick E. G. Baird; Patrick Gill

arXiv · 1907.13429

A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock

William Bowden·Richard Hobson·Ian R. Hill·Alvise Vianello·Marco Schioppo·Alissa Silva·Helen S. Margolis·Patrick E. G. Baird·Patrick Gill

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Abstract

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 within a single compact assembly of in-vacuum optics. We show that the device is suitable for high-performance quantum technologies, focusing especially on its intended application as a strontium optical lattice clock. We prepare $2\times 10^4$ spin-polarized atoms of $^{87}$Sr in the optical lattice within 500 ms; we observe a vacuum-limited lifetime of atoms in the lattice of 27 s; and we measure a background DC electric field of 12 Vm$^{-1}$ from stray charges, corresponding to a fractional frequency shift of $(-1.2\times 0.8)\times 10^{-18}$ to the strontium clock transition. When used in combination with careful management of the blackbody radiation environment, the device shows potential as a platform for realizing a compact, robust, transportable optical lattice clock with systematic uncertainty at the $10^{-18}$ level.

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William Bowden, Richard Hobson, Ian R. Hill, Alvise Vianello, Marco Schioppo, Alissa Silva, Helen S. Margolis, Patrick E. G. Baird, Patrick Gill. 2019-07-31. A pyramid MOT with integrated optical cavities as a cold atom platform for an optical lattice clock. https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13429

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