Kinetic behavior of cold 87Rb atoms in integrating sphere

Kinetic behavior of cold ⁸⁷Rb atoms in integrating sphere is presented under adiabatic release. Decay time of cold atom cloud is deduced by calculation of residual cold atom number evolution under adiabatic release and agrees well with our experimental observation. Number evolutions of residual cold atoms under different kinds of acceleration have been studied in detail. Sequence laser pulse cooling is key technique for the successive operation of cold atom clock. The process of laser pulse cooling is numerically simulated and fitted with experiments, optimized distribution of cooling and dead time to get enough cold atoms is put forward to satisfy the demand of cold atom clock.     

Cooling of rubidium atoms in pulsed diffuse laser light

This paper reports an experiment on laser cooling of 87 Rb atoms in pulsed diffuse light,which is the key step towards a compact cold atom clock.It deduces an empirical formula to simulate the pulse cooling process based on the loading of cold atoms in cooling time and the loss in the dead time,which is in agreement with the experimental data.The formula gives a reference to select the parameters for the cold atom clock.     

An effective pumping method for increasing atomic utilization in a compact cold atom clock

We propose a simple pumping method to increase the effective population of cold atoms in the clock state and investigate the factors which affect the pumping efficiency in cold atom systems. We report the theory and demonstrate the corresponding experiment in an ⁸⁷Rb integrating sphere cold atom clock. The experimental results show that the population of cold atoms in the Zeeman sublevel |F=2, m_F=0> is approximately 1.62 times that of the result using optical pumping alone. This method can also be applied to increase the effective population in any one of the target Zeeman sublevels in other cold atom systems.     

拉曼喷泉原子钟

利用托曼光场代替喷泉原子钟的微波腔实现拉曼喷泉原子钟.将分离托曼光场技术与冷原子喷泉技术相结合.避免了存真空腔内放置微波腔,简化了真空系统.同时还保持了很高的准确度.采用半经典理论研究了冷原子喷泉与托曼光场的相互作用过程.得到了冉赛(Ramsey)条纹.比较了托曼喷泉原子钟与热铯束拉曼原子钟,前者有更小的体积和功耗,其精度可能达到或超过商用小铯钟.还比较了拉曼喷泉原子钟与微波喷泉原子钟的差别,分析了光子反冲的影响,提出利用同向传播和相向传播的两台拉曼原子钟测最精细结构常数.     

锶玻色子的“魔术”波长光晶格装载实验研究

光晶格中性原子光钟的不确定度已达到10^-18量级. 本文介绍了碱土金属锶原子玻色子⁸⁸Sr在“魔术”波长处的一维光晶格装载, 实现冷锶原子的囚禁并使锶原子的钟跃迁能级(5s²) ¹S₀-(5s5p) ³P₀在此波长处的交流斯塔克光频移一致. 实验中半导体激光器产生“魔术”光波长(813 nm), 通过实验搭建光学驻波场并获得晶格激光聚焦光束, 束腰半径为38 μm. 经过一级冷却和二级冷却后温度约为2 μK的冷锶原子被此“魔术”波长光晶格囚禁. 通过实验测量得到锶原子玻色子⁸⁸Sr光晶格寿命为270 ms, 数目约为1.2×10⁵, 温度在3.5 μK左右, 此外研究了晶格光功率对晶格囚禁原子数目及温度的影响作用. 原子的光晶格装载为后续的钟跃迁提供了长的探测时间, 为进一步的光钟闭环提供了实验基础.     

Enhanced cold mercury atom production with two-dimensional magneto-optical trap

A cold atom source is important for quantum metrology and precision measurement. To reduce the quantum projection noise limit in optical lattice clock, one can increase the number of cold atoms and reduce the dead time by enhancing the loading rate. In this work, we realize an enhanced cold mercury atom source based on a two-dimensional (2D) magneto-optical trap (MOT). The vacuum system is composed of two titanium chambers connected with a differential pumping tube. Two stable cooling laser systems are adopted for the 2D-MOT and the three-dimensional (3D)-MOT, respectively. Using an optimized 2D-MOT and push beam, about 1.3×10⁶ atoms, which are almost an order of magnitude higher than using a pure 3D-MOT, are loaded into the 3D-MOT for ²⁰²Hg atoms. This enhanced cold mercury atom source is helpful in increasing the frequency stability of a neutral mercury lattice clock.     

High-performance coherent population trapping clock based on laser-cooled atoms

We present a coherent population trapping clock system based on laser-cooled $^{87}$Rb atoms. The clock consists of a frequency-stabilized CPT interrogation laser and a cooling laser as well as a compact magneto-optical trap, a high-performance microwave synthesizer, and a signal detection system. The resonance signal in the continuous wave regime exhibits an absorption contrast of $\sim 50$%. In the Ramsey interrogation method, the linewidth of the central fringe is 31.25 Hz. The system achieves fractional frequency stability of ${2.4\times }{{10}}^{{-11}}/\sqrt \tau $, which goes down to ${1.8\times }{{10}}^{{-13}}$ at 20000 s. The results validate that cold atom interrogation can improve the long-term frequency stability of coherent population trapping clocks and holds the potential for developing compact/miniature cold atoms clocks.     

Control of light pulse propagation with only a few cold atoms in a high-finesse microcavity

Propagation of a light pulse through a high-Q optical microcavity containing a few cold atoms (N<10) in its cavity mode is investigated experimentally. With less than ten cold rubidium atoms launched into an optical microcavity, up to 170 ns propagation lead time ("superluminal"), and 440 ns propagation delay time (subluminal) are observed. Comparison of the experimental data with numerical simulations as well as future experiments are discussed.     

Optical state selection process with optical pumping in a cesium atomic fountain clock

We propose and realize a new optical state selection method on a cesium atomic fountain clock by applying a two-laser 3-3' optical pumping configuration to spin polarize atoms. The atoms are prepared in |F=3, m_F=0> clock state with optical pumping directly after being launched up, followed by a pushing beam to push away the atoms remaining in the |F=4> state. With a state selection efficiency exceeding 92%, this optical method can substitute the traditional microwave state selection, and helps to develop a more compact physical package. A Ramsey fringe has been achieved with this optical state selection method, and a contrast of 90% is obtained with a full width half maximum of 0.92 Hz. The short-term frequency stability of 6.8×10^-14 (τ/s)^-1/2 is acquired. In addition, the number of detected atoms is increased by a factor of 1.7 with the optical state selection.     

冷原子气体的时频测量——光晶格原子钟

基于冷原子气体的时频测量在近20年里快速发展,引起了人们的广泛关注,其典型代表是基于大量中性原子的光晶格原子钟。利用超稳钟激光同时探测囚禁在光晶格里成千上万个冷原子的钟跃迁信号,光晶格原子钟已实现10^-18量级的频率准确度和10^-17量级的秒级稳定度,大幅度提高了时频测量的精度。文章概述了光晶格原子钟的发展历史、工作原理、性能评估及应用前景。     

冷原子气体的时频测量——光晶格原子钟

基于冷原子气体的时频测量在近20年里快速发展,引起了人们的广泛关注,其典型代表是基于大量中性原子的光晶格原子钟。利用超稳钟激光同时探测囚禁在光晶格里成千上万个冷原子的钟跃迁信号,光晶格原子钟已实现10^-18量级的频率准确度和10^-17量级的秒级稳定度,大幅度提高了时频测量的精度。文章概述了光晶格原子钟的发展历史、工作原理、性能评估及应用前景。     

Nondestructive probing of Rabi oscillations on the cesium clock transition near the standard quantum limit

We report on the nondestructive observation of Rabi oscillations on the Cs clock transition. The internal atomic state evolution of a dipole-trapped ensemble of cold atoms is inferred from the phase shift of a probe laser beam as measured using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. We describe a single color as well as a two-color probing scheme. Using the latter, measurements of the collective pseudospin projection of atoms in a superposition of the clock states are performed and the observed spin fluctuations are shown to be close to the standard quantum limit.     

时间频率基准装置的研制现状

时间频率基准装置——铯原子喷泉钟, 在标准时间产生和保持、基础物理研究中发挥了重要的作用. 介绍了铯原子喷泉钟的工作原理, 对影响其性能的各项噪声源和频移项给出了分析, 影响频率稳定度性能的主要因素为Dick 效应相关的原子团装载时间、微波激励源相位噪声和探测激光的频率噪声, 影响频率不确定性能主要频移项为: 黑体辐射频移、冷原子碰撞频移、腔相位分布频移和微波泄露频移; 总结和比较了当前具有先进性能的铯原子喷泉钟采用的技术; 介绍了铯原子喷泉钟的主要应用方向、空间冷原子铯钟的研制情况和光学频率原子钟进展.     

Microwave interrogation cavity for the rubidium space cold atom clock

The performance of space cold atom clocks(SCACs) should be improved thanks to the microgravity environment in space.The microwave interrogation cavity is a key element in a SCAC.In this paper,we develop a microwave interrogation cavity especially for the rubidium SCAC.The interrogation cavity has two microwave interaction zones with a single feedin source,which is located at the center of the cavity for symmetric coupling excitation and to ensure that the two interaction zones are in phase.The interrogation cavity has a measured resonance frequency of 6.835056471 GHz with a loaded quality factor of nearly 4200,which shows good agreement with simulation results.We measure the Rabi frequency of the clock transition of the rubidium atom in each microwave interaction zone,and subsequently demonstrate that the distributions of the magnetic field in the two interaction zones are the same and meet all requirements of the rubidium SCAC.     

Spontaneous evolution of rydberg atoms into an ultracold plasma

We have observed the spontaneous evolution of a dense sample of Rydberg atoms into an ultracold plasma, in spite of the fact that each of the atoms may initially be bound by up to 100 cm(-1). When the atoms are initially bound by 70 cm(-1), this evolution occurs when most of the atoms are translationally cold, <1 mK, but a small fraction, approximately 1%, is at room temperature. Ionizing collisions between hot and cold Rydberg atoms and blackbody photoionization produce an essentially stationary cloud of cold ions, which traps electrons produced later. The trapped electrons rapidly collisionally ionize the remaining cold Rydberg atoms to form a cold plasma.     

Non-resonant magneto-optical effects in cold atoms

We report a novel nonresonant magneto-optical effect in cold atoms and present the optimized parameters of the biased magnetic field, the incident probe light intensity, and the probe detuning to obtain the maximal signal of the magneto-optical rotation. This detection scheme may further improve the stability of the cold atom clock.     

Combined ion and atom trap for low-temperature ion–atom physics

We report an experimental apparatus and technique which simultaneously traps ions and cold atoms with spatial overlap. Such an apparatus is motivated by the study of ion–atom processes at temperatures ranging from hot to ultra cold. This area is a largely unexplored domain of physics with cold trapped atoms. In this article we discuss the general design considerations for combining these two traps and present our experimental setup. The ion trap and atom trap are characterized independently of each other. The simultaneous operation of both is then described and experimental signatures of the effect of the ions and cold atoms on each other are presented. In conclusion, the use of such an instrument for several problems in physics and chemistry is briefly discussed.     

Velocity selective trapping of atoms in a frequency-modulated laser field

The wavefunction of a moderately cold atom in a stationary near-resonant standing light wave delocalizes very fast due to wave packet splitting. However, we show that frequency modulation of the field may suppress packet splitting for some atoms having specific velocities in a narrow range. These atoms remain localized in a small space for a long time. We propose that in a real experiment with cold atomic gas this effect may decrease the velocity distribution of atoms (the field traps the atoms with such specific velocities while all other atoms leave the field).     

Laser cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms

The experiments on the laser cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms are reported, including the two-dimensional transversal cooling, longitudinal velocity Zeeman deceleration, and a magneto-optical trap with a broadband transition at a wavelength of 399 nm. The magnetic field distributions along the axis of a Zeeman slower were measured and in a good agreement with the calculated results. Cold ytterbium atoms were produced with a number of about 10⁷ and a temperature of a few milli-Kelvin. In addition, using a 556-nm laser, the excitations of cold ytterbium atoms at ¹S₀-³P₁ transition were observed. The ytterbium atoms will be further cooled in a 556-nm magneto-optical trap and loaded into a three-dimensional optical lattice to make an ytterbium optical clock.      

Electromagnetically induced transparency in a Zeeman-sublevels Λ-system of cold ~(87)Rb atoms in free space

We report the experimental investigation of electromagnetically induced transparency(EIT) in a Zeeman-sublevelsΛ-type system of cold ~(87)Rb atoms in free space. We use the Zeeman substates of the hyperfine energy states 5~2S_(1/2), F = 2 and 5~2P_(3/2), F = 2 of ~(87)Rb D_2 line to form a Λ-type EIT scheme. The EIT signal is obtained by scanning the probe light over 1 MHz in 4 ms with an 80 MHz arbitrary waveform generator. More than 97% transparency and 100 k Hz EIT window are observed. This EIT scheme is suited for an application of pulsed coherent storage atom clock(Yan B, et al. 2009 Phys.Rev. A 79 063820).