2019/08/31 by Ivaylo S. Madjarov, Alexandre Cooper, Adam L. Shaw +5 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #cond-mat.quant-gas #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevx.9.041052
published as Phys. Rev. X 9, 041052 (2019) · 14 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; accepted in PRX on October 25th, 2019
arxiv created 2019/10/29 · arxiv updated 2019/12/18
Currently, the most accurate and stable clocks use optical interrogation of either a single ion or an ensemble of neutral atoms confined in an optical lattice. Here, we demonstrate a new optical clock system based on an array of individually trapped neutral atoms with single-atom readout, merging many of the benefits of ion and lattice clocks as well as creating a bridge to recently developed techniques in quantum simulation and computing with neutral atoms. We evaluate single-site resolved frequency shifts and short-term stability via self-comparison. Atom-by-atom feedback control enables direct experimental estimation of laser noise contributions. Results agree well with an ab initio Monte Carlo simulation that incorporates finite temperature, projective read-out, laser noise, and feedback dynamics. Our approach, based on a tweezer array, also suppresses interaction shifts while retaining a short dead time, all in a comparatively simple experimental setup suited for transportable operation. These results establish the foundations for a third optical clock platform and provide a novel starting point for entanglement-enhanced metrology, quantum clock networks, and applications in quantum computing and communication with individual neutral atoms that require optical clock state control.