JILA researchers have developed an improved atomic “tweezer clock” that demonstrates high stability close to the best optical clocks. The upgraded version uses a grid of 150 strontium atoms trapped by optical tweezers, with up to 30 times more atoms than the preliminary design. The clock’s stability of 5.2 x 10^-17 at 1 second averaging time approaches that of JILA’s 3D strontium lattice clock.
The tweezer clock combines the precise control of individual atoms with the strong signals and stability provided by many atoms. Researchers measured the stability by comparing two different regions within the tweezer clock. The platform also sets up the system for quantum information processing and simulation.
The work was supported by the Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation Physics Frontiers Center at JILA, and NIST.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/12/jilas-bigger-and-better-tweezer-clock-super-stable
Keywords: quantum, coherence, clock, optical, lattice
