An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10(-18) level

Area of Science:

• Atomic, optical, and quantum science
• Precision measurement
• Quantum information science

Background:

• Atomic clock research drives fundamental and applied science.
• Optical clocks using single ions offer low systematic uncertainty.
• Many-atom lattice clocks excel in precision but lag in accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the accuracy of many-atom optical lattice clocks.
• To achieve accuracy surpassing single-ion clocks.
• To reduce measurement time for atomic clocks.

Main Methods:

• Development of a many-atom system for optical lattice clocks.
• Systematic evaluation of all known uncertainty sources.
• In situ monitoring of the blackbody radiation environment.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a many-atom system with accuracy of 6.4 × 10⁻¹⁸.
• Achieved accuracy superior to single-ion clocks.
• Reduced measurement time by two orders of magnitude.
• Improved optical lattice clock accuracy by a factor of 22.

Conclusions:

• The developed optical lattice clock offers the best known stability and accuracy for a primary standard.
• This advancement benefits SI unit realization, fundamental constant variation searches, and geodesy.
• The work contributes to quantum sensors and many-body quantum state engineering for enhanced precision.