Optical frequency standards based on trapped ions have made great progress over the past decades. In this paper, the design of the optical system for an optical atomic clock based on single 171-ytterbium ion at NIM is proposed. According to the requirements for ionization, cooling, repump, interrogation, and detection, the basic optical system design and frequency stabilization scheme are introduced.
In this paper, a new optical pumping method, redistributing the atom populations among the Zeeman magnetic sublevels of the ground state |F=3> is proposed as the state preparation process to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the atomic fountain clock with a larger atom population on the |F=3, mF=0>clock state. A preliminary experimental result of state preparation efficiency exceeding 60% is obtained on the NIM6 cesium (Cs) fountain clock.
NIM has built three cesium fountain clocks in Beijing area. NIM5 fountain clock has been reported to BIPM since 2014. The microwave synthesizer and computer control system of NIM5 had been modified recently. The type-B uncertainty is 9×10−16, limited by the interferometric switch in the microwave chain. NIM5-M has been sent to 32 km away from NIM and compared with NIM5 via fiber link. The new NIM6 fountain clock has been built and evaluated, the results are presented in the paper. The direct comparison of NIM5 and NIM6 has also been done, a relative frequency difference of 4.4×10−16 was obtained for 20 days averaging time, consistent with the total uncertainty of the two clocks.
An ultra-stable microwave (USM) based on an ultra-stable laser (USL) and fiber optical frequency comb (OFC) is built at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China. The sum frequency of the carrier envelope offset frequency of FOFC and the beating frequency between the USL and FOFC is stabilized with an 100MHz microwave signal which is controlled by the H master. The error signal controls the pumping laser power through the pumping current and the cavity length by the piezoelectric transducer (PZT). Meanwhile, the error signal is send to the temperature control part of the optical resonant cavity for the long term stability. The stability of the USM is 1.33E-14 at 1s. The whole USM system is much robust, and can continuously running more than 30 days. This USM will be applied as the local oscillator for NIM5 Cs fountain to improve its short term stability.
The ultra-stable microwave (USM) based on ultra-stable laser (USL) and fiber optical frequency comb (OFC) is built at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China. The OFC is stabilized with USL by controlling the pumping current and piezoelectric transducer (PZT). Meanwhile, the error signal is send to the temperature control of the optical resonant cavity for the long term locking which enable a more than 30 days continuously running. The second stability is 4E-15. By controlling the driving frequency of the AOM, the long term stability of H master is transmitted to the USM. This USM will be applied as the local oscillator for NIM5 Cs fountain to improve its short term stability.
An ultra-stable microwave based on ultra-stable laser and fiber optical frequency comb (FOFC) is built at the National Institute of Metrology China (NIM). The repetition rate (fr) of FOFC is stabilized by stabilizing the sum of the carrier envelope of set frequency (fceo) of FOFC and the beating frequency between the ultra-stable laser and FOFC. A current feedback with 30 kHz bandwidth and a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) with 1 kHz bandwidth are applied for the feedback locking. The frequency jitter of the stabilized sum frequency is about 4 Hz. The short time stability of fr is calculated better than 1E-14. This ultra-stable microwave will be applied as local oscillator for NIM5 Cs fountain to improve its short term stability.
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