Miniaturized optical system for atomic fountain clock

Using modularized components, we have built a miniaturized optical system for 87Rb atomic fountain clock that is fitted on an 80 cm × 60 cm optical breadboard. Compared with the conventional optical setup on the table, our system is more compact, more robust and miniaturized. Taking advantage of this system, laser beams are transmitted through eight optical fibre patch cords from the optical breadboard to an ultra high vacuum system. This optical setup has operated for five months in our fountain system and required no alignment.     

氢原子钟壁移的测量和消除

指出了克服氢原子钟壁移问题的必要性. 给出了一种测量氢钟壁移的简易方法,讨论了减小壁移的技术. 该文的方法和技术有助于进一步改善氢原子钟的长期稳定度.     

Effects of Quantum Noise on Quantum Clock Synchronization

In laboratory environment, the channel apparatus will generate particular dominant quantum noise. The noise then will give rise to some errors during synchronization. In this work, the accuracies of one qubit transport protocol and entangled states transport protocol in the presence of noise have been studied. With the help of three important and familiar noise models, the quantum noise will degrade the accuracy has been proved. Due to the influence of quantum noise, the accuracy of entangled qubits decrease faster than that of one qubit. The entangled states will improve the accuracy in noise-free channel, and will degrade the accuracy in noise channel.     

新型小铷钟微波腔谐振特性的研究

采用模匹配法对一种陶瓷介质填充的圆柱谐振腔TE₀₁₁、TE₁₁₁模的谐振特性进行了理论分析和软件仿真. 计算了该种谐振腔的谐振频率,并与其他理论方法得到的仿真结果进行了比较,验证了理论方法的正确性. 在此基础上,分析了陶瓷介质尺寸对谐振频率的影响. 与目前铷钟广泛使用的微波腔相比,该种谐振腔腔体的体积在很大程度上得到减小,这对于铷原子钟小型化的实现具有重要的作用.     

Clock frequency estimation under spontaneous emission

We investigate the quantum dynamics of a driven two-level system under spontaneous emission and its application in clock frequency estimation. By using the Lindblad equation to describe the system, we analytically obtain its exact solutions, which show three different regimes: Rabi oscillation, damped oscillation, and overdamped decay. From the analytical solutions, we explore how the spontaneous emission affects the clock frequency estimation. We find that under a moderate spontaneous emission rate, the transition frequency can still be inferred from the Rabi oscillation. Our results enable potential practical applications in frequency measurement and quantum control under decoherence.     

Rubidium-beam microwave clock pumped by distributed feedback diode lasers

A rubidium-beam microwave clock, optically pumped by a distributed feedback diode laser, is experimentally investigated. The clock is composed of a physical package, optical systems, and electric servo loops. The physical package realizes the microwave interrogation of a rubidium-atomic beam. The optical systems, equipped with two 780-nm distributed feedback laser diodes, yield light for pumping and detecting. The servo loops control the frequency of a local oscillator with respect to the microwave spectrum. With the experimental systems, the microwave spectrum, which has an amplitude of 4 n A and a line width of 700 Hz, is obtained. Preliminary tests show that the clock short-term frequency stability is 7 × 10~(-11) at 1 s, and 3 × 10~(-12) at 1000 s. These experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the scheme for a manufactured clock.     

FPGA中信号可靠性设计的方法研究

对FPGA程序设计中存在的信号抖动、相位差异以及在模块继承时不同时钟域引起的软件异常等可靠性设计问题,将目前常用的信号抖动抑制及判断方法进行了分析总结,提出了几种新的FPGA内部的信号处理方法;通过实验验证,这些方法对不同脉冲宽度、不同突发频率的随机干扰,能够进行有效抑制;通过合理降频、例化原语等方法优化软件设计,提高了FPGA输出信号的完整性和可靠性;在航天、航空和工业控制领域中,有效地解决了软件系统的可靠性问题,为建立可靠性高、运行稳定的软件系统创造了条件。     

Interrogation of optical Ramsey spectrum and stability study of an 87Sr optical lattice clock

The optical Ramsey spectrum is experimentally realized in an ⁸⁷Sr optical lattice clock, and the measured linewidth agrees well with theoretical expectation. The coherence time between the clock laser and the atoms, which indicates the maximum free evolution period of using Ramsey detection to measure the atom-laser phase information, is determined as 340(23) ms by measuring the fringe contrasts of the Ramsey spectrum as a function of the free evolution period. Furthermore, with the same clock duty cycle of about 0.1, the clock stability is measured by using the Ramsey and Rabi spectra, respectively. The experimental and theoretical results show approximately the same stability as the two detection methods, which indicates that Ramsey detection cannot obviously improve the clock stability until the clock duty cycle is large enough. Thus, it is of great significance to choose the detection method of a specific clock.     

Effective sideband cooling in an ytterbium optical lattice clock

Sideband cooling is a key technique for improving the performance of optical atomic clocks by preparing cold atoms and single ions into the ground vibrational state. In this work, we demonstrate detailed experimental research on pulsed Raman sideband cooling in a $^{171}$Yb optical lattice clock. A sequence comprised of interleaved 578 nm cooling pulses resonant on the 1st-order red sideband and 1388 nm repumping pulses is carried out to transfer atoms into the motional ground state. We successfully decrease the axial temperature of atoms in the lattice from 6.5 μK to less than 0.8 μK in the trap depth of 24 μK, corresponding to an average axial motional quantum number $\langle n_z\rangle<0.03$. Rabi oscillation spectroscopy is measured to evaluate the effect of sideband cooling on inhomogeneous excitation. The maximum excitation fraction is increased from 0.8 to 0.86, indicating an enhancement in the quantum coherence of the ensemble. Our work will contribute to improving the instability and uncertainty of Yb lattice clocks.     

单个量子态的操纵和测量:2012年诺贝尔物理学奖述评

塞尔日.阿罗什和大卫.维因兰德获得了2012年诺贝尔物理学奖.他们独立地发展了突破性的实验方法,成功地实现了对单个量子态的测量和控制,由此展示了量子世界的基本特性.同时促进了基于量子技术的量子信息和原子钟的发展.