Many-Body Gap Protection against Motional Dephasing of an Optical Clock Transition

Area of Science:

• Quantum optics
• Atomic physics
• Quantum information science

Background:

• Light fields manipulate atomic states in quantum simulation and metrology.
• Absorbed light momentum causes Doppler dephasing, limiting coherence times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the suppression of Doppler dephasing in strontium optical clock transitions.
• To explore a collective atomic interaction approach for enhancing quantum sensor performance.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a high-finesse optical ring cavity to enable atomic interactions.
• Creating a many-body energy gap through collective atomic effects.
• Experimentally demonstrating dephasing suppression on a strontium optical clock transition.

Main Results:

• Doppler dephasing was significantly suppressed.
• The many-body energy gap increased with atom number, overcoming the dephasing energy scale.
• Atomic interactions in a shared cavity mode proved effective in mitigating motional dephasing.

Conclusions:

• Collective atomic interactions in optical cavities offer a novel method to suppress Doppler dephasing.
• This approach provides an alternative to traditional techniques for improving quantum sensors and simulations.
• Enhanced coherence times pave the way for more advanced optical quantum technologies.