A chip-scale atomic beam clock
Abstract
Atomic beams are a longstanding technology for atom-based sensors and clocks with widespread use in commercial frequency standards. Here, we report the demonstration of a chip-scale microwave atomic beam clock using coherent population trapping (CPT) interrogation in a passively pumped atomic beam device. The beam device consists of a hermetically sealed vacuum cell fabricated from an anodically bonded stack of glass and Si wafers in which lithographically defined capillaries produce Rb atomic beams and passive pumps maintain the vacuum environment. A prototype chip-scale clock is realized using Ramsey CPT spectroscopy of the atomic beam over a 10 mm distance and demonstrates a fractional frequency stability of ≈1.2 × 10−9/$$\sqrt{\tau }$$ τ for integration times, τ, from 1 s to 250 s, limited by detection noise. Optimized atomic beam clocks based on this approach may exceed the long-term stability of existing chip-scale clocks, and leading long-term systematics are predicted to limit the ultimate fractional frequency stability below 10−12.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 13, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41467-023-39166-1
Entities
People
- Alexander Staron
- Chandra Raman
- Chao Li
- Gabriela D. Martinez
- John E. Kitching
- William McGehee
Organizations
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Office of Naval Research