Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 December 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5804, pp. 1430 - 1433
DOI: 10.1126/science.1133732
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Optical Atomic Coherence at the 1-Second Time Scale

Martin M. Boyd, Tanya Zelevinsky, Andrew D. Ludlow, Seth M. Foreman, Sebastian Blatt, Tetsuya Ido,* Jun Ye{dagger}

Highest-resolution laser spectroscopy has generally been limited to single trapped ion systems because of the rapid decoherence that plagues neutral atom ensembles. Precision spectroscopy of ultracold neutral atoms confined in a trapping potential now shows superior optical coherence without any deleterious effects from motional degrees of freedom, revealing optical resonance linewidths at the hertz level with a good signal-to-noise ratio. The resonance quality factor of 2.4 x 1014 is the highest ever recovered in any form of coherent spectroscopy. The spectral resolution permits direct observation of the breaking of nuclear spin degeneracy for the 1S0 and 3P0 optical clock states of 87Sr under a small magnetic bias field. This optical approach for excitation of nuclear spin states allows an accurate measurement of the differential Landé g factor between 1S0 and 3P0. The optical atomic coherence demonstrated for collective excitation of a large number of atoms will have a strong impact on quantum measurement and precision frequency metrology.

JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309–0440, USA.

* Present address: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, Japan.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Ye{at}jila.colorado.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Quantum State Engineering and Precision Metrology Using State-Insensitive Light Traps.
J. Ye, H. J. Kimble, and H. Katori (2008)
Science 320, 1734-1738
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sr Lattice Clock at 1 x 10-16 Fractional Uncertainty by Remote Optical Evaluation with a Ca Clock.
A. D. Ludlow, T. Zelevinsky, G. K. Campbell, S. Blatt, M. M. Boyd, M. H. G. de Miranda, M. J. Martin, J. W. Thomsen, S. M. Foreman, J. Ye, et al. (2008)
Science 319, 1805-1808
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)