冷原子气体的时频测量——光晶格原子钟

Time-frequency measurement based on cold atomic gases--optical lattice atomic clocks

基于冷原子气体的时频测量在近20年里快速发展,引起了人们的广泛关注,其典型代表是基于大量中性原子的光晶格原子钟。利用超稳钟激光同时探测囚禁在光晶格里成千上万个冷原子的钟跃迁信号,光晶格原子钟已实现10^(-18)量级的频率准确度和10^(-17)量级的秒级稳定度,大幅度提高了时频测量的精度。文章概述了光晶格原子钟的发展历史、工作原理、性能评估及应用前景。

Time-frequency measurement based on a cold atom gas has developed rapidly in the past 20 years and attracted wide attention.A typical example is the optical lattice atomic clock based on many neutral atoms.Using an ultra-stable laser to simultaneously detect the clock transition signals of thousands of cold atoms trapped in the optical lattice,such atomic clocks have achieved the frequency accuracy and the second stability on the order of 10^(-18) and 10^(-17) respectively,greatly improving the accuracy of time-frequency measurement.In this paper,we review the history,operation principle,performance evaluation and application prospects of optical lattice atomic clocks.