A Two-Photon E1-M1 Optical Clock.

Abstract

Innovations in precision frequency measurement advance popular technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS), permit the testing of fundamental physics constants, and have the potential to measure local variations in gravity. Driving optical transitions for frequency measurement using an E1-M1 excitation scheme in a hot mercury (Hg) vapor cell is viable and could be the basis of a portable optical frequency standard with comparable accuracy to the most precise atomic clocks in the world.

This dissertation explores the fundamental physics of the new E1-M1 method of high-precision frequency measurement in an optical, atomic clock and describes the construction of a high-power E1-M1 clock laser. The value of this new scheme compared to existing optical frequency standards is the simplicity and portability of the experimental setup. Such an optical frequency standard would permit frequency measurement in far-flung locations on earth and in space. Analysis of both the E1-M1 optical transition and thermal properties of the candidate clock atoms are presented. These models allow a stability estimate of an E1-M1 optical clock and recommend experimental settings to optimize the standard. The experimental work that has been performed in pursuit of observing the E1-M1 clock transition in Hg is also discussed.

An optical clock operates by making a precision frequency measurement of a laser that has been brought into resonance with a clock atom’s oscillator: a high quality atomic level transition. Group II type atoms, such as Hg, have the 1S0-3P0 transition that is an ideal basis for a clock. The E1-M1 excitation is performed by driving the two-photon allowed transition 1S0-3P1-3P0. This is in contrast to the single-photon E1 transition used in other systems. Single-photon schemes must use ultracold atoms to reduce atomic motion to attain high levels of accuracy. Driving the clock transition with a pair of degenerate counter-propagating photons in an E1-M1 scheme reduces Doppler broadening effects without the need for ultracold atoms. This allows frequency measurement to be performed at temperatures that produce large atomic number densities, increasing the statistical accuracy and portability of the E1-M1 system compared to cold systems.