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

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bloom, BJ; Nicholson, TL; Williams, JR; Campbell, SL; Bishof, M; Zhang, X; Zhang, W; Bromley, SL; Ye, J
Published in: Nature
January 28, 2014

Progress in atomic, optical and quantum science has led to rapid improvements in atomic clocks. At the same time, atomic clock research has helped to advance the frontiers of science, affecting both fundamental and applied research. The ability to control quantum states of individual atoms and photons is central to quantum information science and precision measurement, and optical clocks based on single ions have achieved the lowest systematic uncertainty of any frequency standard. Although many-atom lattice clocks have shown advantages in measurement precision over trapped-ion clocks, their accuracy has remained 16 times worse. Here we demonstrate a many-atom system that achieves an accuracy of 6.4 × 10-18, which is not only better than a single-ion-based clock, but also reduces the required measurement time by two orders of magnitude. By systematically evaluating all known sources of uncertainty, including in situ monitoring of the blackbody radiation environment, we improve the accuracy of optical lattice clocks by a factor of 22. This single clock has simultaneously achieved the best known performance in the key characteristics necessary for consideration as a primary standard-stability and accuracy. More stable and accurate atomic clocks will benefit a wide range of fields, such as the realization and distribution of SI units, the search for time variation of fundamental constants, clock-based geodesy and other precision tests of the fundamental laws of nature. This work also connects to the development of quantum sensors and many-body quantum state engineering (such as spin squeezing) to advance measurement precision beyond the standard quantum limit. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

January 28, 2014

Volume

506

Issue

7486

Start / End Page

71 / 75

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology
 

Citation

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Bloom, B. J., Nicholson, T. L., Williams, J. R., Campbell, S. L., Bishof, M., Zhang, X., … Ye, J. (2014). An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10-18 level. Nature, 506(7486), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12941
Bloom, B. J., T. L. Nicholson, J. R. Williams, S. L. Campbell, M. Bishof, X. Zhang, W. Zhang, S. L. Bromley, and J. Ye. “An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10-18 level.” Nature 506, no. 7486 (January 28, 2014): 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12941.
Bloom BJ, Nicholson TL, Williams JR, Campbell SL, Bishof M, Zhang X, et al. An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10-18 level. Nature. 2014 Jan 28;506(7486):71–5.
Bloom, B. J., et al. “An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10-18 level.” Nature, vol. 506, no. 7486, Jan. 2014, pp. 71–75. Scopus, doi:10.1038/nature12941.
Bloom BJ, Nicholson TL, Williams JR, Campbell SL, Bishof M, Zhang X, Zhang W, Bromley SL, Ye J. An optical lattice clock with accuracy and stability at the 10-18 level. Nature. 2014 Jan 28;506(7486):71–75.
Journal cover image

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

January 28, 2014

Volume

506

Issue

7486

Start / End Page

71 / 75

Related Subject Headings

  • General Science & Technology