Experiments on trapping ytterbium atoms in optical lattices

Experiments on trapping ytterbium atoms in various optical lattices are presented. After the two-stage cooling, first in a blue magneto-optical trap and then in a green magneto-optical trap, the ultracold 171 Yb atoms are successfully loaded into one-, two-, and three-dimensional optical lattices operating at the Stark-free wavelength, respectively. The temperature, number, and lifetime of cold 171 Yb atoms in one-dimensional lattice are measured. After optimization, the one-dimensional lattice with cold 171Yb atoms is used for developing an ytterbium optical clock.

Study of optical clocks based on ultracold ^171Yb atoms

The optical atomic clocks have the potential to transform global timekeeping,relying on the state-of-the-art accuracy and stability,and greatly improve the measurement precision for a wide range of scientific and technological applications.Herein we report on the development of the optical clock based on 171Yb atoms confined in an optical lattice.A minimum width of 1.92-Hz Rabi spectra has been obtained with a new 578-nm clock interrogation laser.The in-loop fractional instability of the 171Yb clock reaches 9.1×10-18 after an averaging over a time of 2.0×104 s.By synchronous comparison between two clocks,we demonstrate that our 171Yb optical lattice clock achieves a fractional instability of 4.60×10-16/√τ.

Precise measurement of 171Yb magnetic constants for 1S_(0)–3P_(0) clock transition

We present a precise measurement of171Yb magnetic constants for 1S_(0)-3P_(0) clock transition. The background magnetic field is firstly compensated to < 1 m Gs(1 Gs = 10^(-4)T) through measuring the splitting of two π transitins of171Yb clock transition at different compensation coils currents. Then, the splitting ratios of the π and σ components of171Yb clock transition at different bias magnetic fields are measured, and the first-order Zeeman coefficient is determined to beα = 199.49(5) Hz/Gs. The second-order Zeeman shifts at various bias magnetic fields are also measured through interleaved self-comparison in which the bias magnetic fields are modulated between high and low values. The second-order Zeeman coefficient is fitted to be β =-6.09(3) Hz/m T^(2), which is consistent with the result of NIST group.

Determination of static dipole polarizabilities of Yb atom

We determine the static values of the scalar and tensor dipole polarizabilities of the ground, 6s6p^3P0~o, and 6s6p^3P1~o states of the Yb atom. These results can be useful in many experiments undertaken using this atom. We employed a combined configuration interaction（CI） method and a second-order many-body perturbation theory（MBPT） to evaluate energies and electric dipole（E1） matrix elements of many low-lying excited states of the above atom. These values are compared with the other available theoretical calculations and experimental values. By combining these E1 matrix elements with the experimental excitation energies, we estimate the dominant valence correlation contributions to the dipole polarizabilities of the above states. The core contribution is obtained from the finite field approach. We also compare these values with the other theoretical results as there are no precise experimental values that are available for these properties.