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Laser-cooled ytterbium-ion microwave frequency standard

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Abstract

We report on the development of a trapped-ion, microwave frequency standard based on the 12.6 GHz hyperfine transition in laser-cooled ytterbium-171 ions. The entire system fits into a 6U 19-in. rack unit \((51\times 49\times 28\,\mathrm{{cm}})\) and comprises laser, electronics, and physics package subsystems. As a first step towards a full evaluation of the system capability, we have measured the frequency instability of our system which is \(3.6\times 10^{-12}/\surd \tau \) for averaging times between 30 and \(1500\,\mathrm{{s}}\).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge U.K. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Innovate UK for funding the development here reported. We would also like to thank our colleagues Pravin Patel for his assistance with the electronics, Peter Nisbet-Jones for his work on the vacuum system, and Steven King for his work at the beginning of the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, TW11 0LW, UK

    S. Mulholland, H. A. Klein, G. P. Barwood, S. Donnellan, D. Gentle, G. Huang, G. Walsh & P. Gill

  2. Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

    S. Mulholland, P. E. G. Baird & P. Gill

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  1. S. Mulholland
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  2. H. A. Klein
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Mulholland, S., Klein, H.A., Barwood, G.P. et al. Laser-cooled ytterbium-ion microwave frequency standard. Appl. Phys. B 125, 198 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-019-7309-6

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