A Permanent Magnet Ion (PermIon) Trap Clock
Abstract
A Permanent Magnet Ion (PermIon) Trap ClockWe propose to design and implement a compact Penning ion trap built with permanent magnetsto improve the stability limits of portable atomic frequency references. Current commercialfrequency standards rely on neutral atom vapors or beams and are largely limited by temperature(or equivalently atomic velocity) instabilities. In order to reduce or remove the primary longtermstability limitations in existing portable references, we propose a clock design based onmicrowave interrogation of a crystal of laser-cooled ions confined in a small-scale Penning trap.Trapping will occur in a high-vacuum environment, reducing background pressure shifts on theclock transition. Second-order Doppler shift uncertainty - a leading systematic in current systems- will be minimized via Doppler laser cooling as well as quadrupole rotating wall control of thecollective ion crystal rotation frequency. Unlike Paul traps, the proposed permanent magnet ion(PermIon) trap requires no electrical power for ion confinement and facilitates manipulation oflarge ion crystals without radiofrequency micromotion effects. The Penning trap magnetic fieldenvironment will be characterized using 40Ca+, and ultimate frequency stability will be achievedusing a magnetic field-insensitive transition at 303 MHz in a trapped crystal of 9Be+.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 05, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712408
Entities
People
- Brian C. Sawyer
Organizations
- Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy