Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: We present a transportable optical clock (TOC) with 87 Sr.Its complete characterization against a stationary lattice clock resulted in a systematic uncertainty of 7.4 × 10 -17 , which is currently limited by the statistics of the determination of the residual lattice light shift, and an instability of 1.3 × 10 -15 = ffiffi ffi τ p with an averaging time τ in seconds.Measurements confirm that the systematic uncertainty can be reduced to below the design goal of 1 × 10 -17 .To our knowledge, these are the best uncertainties and instabilities reported for any transportable clock to date.For autonomous operation, the TOC has been installed in an airconditioned car trailer.It is suitable for chronometric leveling with submeter resolution as well as for intercontinental cross-linking of optical clocks, which is essential for a redefinition of the International System of Units (SI) second.In addition, the TOC will be used for high precision experiments for fundamental science that are commonly tied to precise frequency measurements and its development is an important step to space-borne optical clocks.
Source: Physics
Author: Rachel M. Godun
Institution: National Physical Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G257020223, G6286162444, G6557781521
OpenAlex ID: W2588676835