Atomic clocks with suppressed blackbody radiation shift.

Area of Science:

• Atomic Physics
• Quantum Metrology
• Optical Clocks

Background:

• Blackbody radiation causes significant shifts in atomic clock frequencies, limiting their precision.
• Environmental temperature fluctuations exacerbate these shifts, posing a challenge for stable clock operation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel atomic clock concept for suppressing blackbody radiation shifts and fluctuations.
• To achieve a significant reduction (1-3 orders of magnitude) in systematic frequency shifts, independent of environmental temperature.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a system with two accessible clock transitions (ν1, ν2) within the same thermal environment.
• Defining a 'synthetic' frequency ν(syn) ∝ (ν1 - ε12ν2) that is largely immune to blackbody radiation effects.
• Proposing the use of an optical frequency comb generator stabilized to both ν1 and ν2 to realize ν(syn).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the theoretical possibility of suppressing fractional blackbody radiation shifts to 10⁻¹⁸ for a 171Yb+ ion clock near room temperature.
• Showcased a method for generating the synthetic frequency as a component of an optical frequency comb spectrum.

Conclusions:

• The proposed synthetic frequency method offers a robust approach to mitigate blackbody radiation shifts in atomic clocks.
• This technique has the potential to enhance the stability and accuracy of next-generation atomic clocks, particularly in variable temperature environments.