Improved absolute clock stability by the joint interrogation of two atomic ensembles

Li, Weidong1,2,3; Wu, Shuyuan3; Smerzi, Augusto4,5,6,7; Pezze, Luca4,5,6,7

2022-05-19

10.1103/PhysRevA.105.053116

PHYSICAL REVIEW A   Impact Factor & Quartile

2469-9926

2469-9934

Improving the clock stability is of fundamental importance for the development of quantum-enhanced metrology. One of the main limitations arises from the randomly fluctuating local oscillator (LO) frequency, which introduces "phase slips" for long interrogation times and hence the failure of the frequency-feedback loop. Here we propose a strategy to improve the stability of atomic clocks by interrogating two atomic ensembles sharing the same LO. The two ensembles are prepared in coherent spin states pointing along orthogonal directions in the Bloch sphere. While standard Ramsey interrogation can only determine phases unambiguously in the interval [-pi /2, pi /2], the joint interrogation allows for an extension to [-pi, pi], resulting in a relaxed restriction of the Ramsey time and improvement of absolute clock stability. Theoretical predictions are supported by ab initio numerical simulation for white and correlated LO noise. While our basic protocol uses uncorrelated atoms, we further extended it to include spin-squeezing and further improving the scaling of clock stability with the number of atoms. Our protocol can be readily tested in current state-of-the-art experiments.

SCI ; EI

English

NI Journal Papers

Corresponding

National Key R&D Program of China[2017YFA0304500] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[11874247] ; 111 project[D18001]

Optics ; Physics

Optics ; Physics, Atomic, Molecular & Chemical

WOS:000807852600010

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

20222312200565

Atomic clocks ; Stability

Atomic and Molecular Physics:931.3 ; Special Purpose Instruments:943.3

PHYSICS

Web of Science

1.Shenzhen Technol Univ, Shenzhen Key Lab Ultraintense Laser & Adv Mat Tec, Ctr Adv Mat Diagnost Technol, Shenzhen 518118, Peoples R China
2.Shenzhen Technol Univ, Coll Engn Phys, Shenzhen 518118, Peoples R China
3.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Guangdong Prov Key Laoratory Quantum Sci & Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
4.CNR, INO, QSTAR, Largo Enrico Fermi 2, I-50125 Florence, Italy
5.LENS, Largo Enrico Fermi 2, I-50125 Florence, Italy
6.Shanxi Univ, Inst Theoret Phys, Taiyuan 030006, Peoples R China
7.Shanxi Univ, Dept Phys, Taiyuan 030006, Peoples R China

Li, Weidong,Wu, Shuyuan,Smerzi, Augusto,et al. Improved absolute clock stability by the joint interrogation of two atomic ensembles[J]. PHYSICAL REVIEW A,2022,105(5).

Li, Weidong,Wu, Shuyuan,Smerzi, Augusto,&Pezze, Luca.(2022).Improved absolute clock stability by the joint interrogation of two atomic ensembles.PHYSICAL REVIEW A,105(5).

Li, Weidong,et al."Improved absolute clock stability by the joint interrogation of two atomic ensembles".PHYSICAL REVIEW A 105.5(2022).