Advances in atomic fountains

S. Bize; P. Laurent; M. Abgrall; H. Marion; I. Maksimovic; L. Cacciapuoti; J. Grünert; C. Vian; F. Pereira dos Santos; P. Rosenbusch; P. Lemonde; G. Santarelli; P. Wolf; A. Clairon; A. Luiten; M. Tobar; C. Salomon

doi:10.1016/j.crhy.2004.09.003

Advances in atomic fountains
[Progrès en fontaines atomiques.]

Présenté par : Guy Laval

S. Bize ¹ ; P. Laurent ¹ ; M. Abgrall ¹ ; H. Marion ¹ ; I. Maksimovic ¹ ; L. Cacciapuoti ¹ ; J. Grünert ¹ ; C. Vian ¹ ; F. Pereira dos Santos ¹ ; P. Rosenbusch ¹ ; P. Lemonde ¹ ; G. Santarelli ¹ ; P. Wolf ¹ ; A. Clairon ¹ ; A. Luiten ² ; M. Tobar ² ; C. Salomon ³

¹ BNM-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, 61, avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
² The University of Western Australia, School of Physics, 35, Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
³ Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS, 24, rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France

Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 5 (2004) no. 8, pp. 829-843.

Résumé
Abstract

Cet article décrit le travail réalisé au BNM-SYRTE (Observatoire de Paris) ces dernières années, en vue de l'amélioration et de l'utilisation d'étalons de fréquence micro-onde fondés sur l'utilisation d'atomes refroidis par laser. Nous décrivons tout d'abord les améliorations récentes des fontaines atomiques à ¹³³Cs et ⁸⁷Rb. Une avancée importante est l'obtention d'une stabilité relative de fréquence de $1.6 \times 10^{−14} τ^{- 1 / 2}$ où τ est la durée de la mesure en secondes, grâce à l'utilisation routinière d'un oscillateur cryogénique à résonateur en saphir comme référence de fréquence locale ultra-stable. La deuxième avancée est une méthode puissante pour contrôler le déplacement de fréquence lié aux collisions froides. Ces deux progrès conduisent à une stabilité de fréquence de $2 \times 10^{−16}$ à 50 000 s, une première pour des étalons primaires. De plus, ces horloges réalisent la seconde du système international SI avec une exactitude de $7 \times 10^{−16}$ , une amélioration d'un ordre de grandeur par rapport aux dispositifs sans refroidissement laser. Les tests des lois fondamentales de la physique constituent une application importante des horloges atomiques ultra-précises. Dans une deuxième partie, nous décrivons la recherche d'une éventuelle variation des constantes fondamentales utilisant des fontaines à ¹³³Cs et ⁸⁷Rb. La troisième partie fait le point sur la réalisation d'une horloge spatiale à atomes froids PHARAO développée en collaboration avec le CNES. Cette horloge est l'un des instruments principaux de la mission spatiale ACES de l'ESA qui volera à bord de la station spatiale internationale en 2007-2008, en vue d'effectuer une nouvelle génération de tests de la Relativité.

This article describes the work performed at BNM-SYRTE (Observatoire de Paris) in the past few years, toward the improvement and the use of microwave frequency standards using laser-cooled atoms. First, recent improvements of the ¹³³Cs and ⁸⁷Rb atomic fountains are described. An important advance is the achievement of a fractional frequency instability of $1.6 \times 10^{−14} τ^{- 1 / 2}$ where τ is the measurement time in seconds, thanks to the routine use of a cryogenic sapphire oscillator as an ultra-stable local frequency reference. The second advance is a powerful method to control the frequency shift due to cold collisions. These two advances lead to a fractional frequency in stability of $2 \times 10^{−16}$ at 50 000 s between two independent primary standards. In addition, these clocks realize the SI second with an accuracy of $7 \times 10^{−16}$ , one order of magnitude below that of uncooled devices. Tests of fundamental physical laws constitute an important field of application for highly accurate atomic clocks. In a second part, we describe tests of possible variations of fundamental constants using ⁸⁷Rb and ¹³³Cs fountains. The third part is an update on the cold atom space clock PHARAO developed in collaboration with CNES. This clock is one of the main instruments of the ACES/ESA mission which will fly on board the International Space Station in 2007-2008, enabling a new generation of relativity tests.

Publié le : 2004-10-01

DOI : 10.1016/j.crhy.2004.09.003

Keywords: Atomic fountains, Microwave frequency standards, Laser-cooled atoms, Atomic clocks, PHARAO
Mot clés : Fontaines atomiques, Étalons de fréquence micro-onde, Atomes refroidis par laser, Horloges atomiques, PHARAO

Affiliations des auteurs :

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     author = {S. Bize and P. Laurent and M. Abgrall and H. Marion and I. Maksimovic and L. Cacciapuoti and J. Gr\"unert and C. Vian and F. Pereira dos Santos and P. Rosenbusch and P. Lemonde and G. Santarelli and P. Wolf and A. Clairon and A. Luiten and M. Tobar and C. Salomon},
     title = {Advances in atomic fountains},
     journal = {Comptes Rendus. Physique},
     pages = {829--843},
     publisher = {Elsevier},
     volume = {5},
     number = {8},
     year = {2004},
     doi = {10.1016/j.crhy.2004.09.003},
     language = {en},
}

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S. Bize; P. Laurent; M. Abgrall; H. Marion; I. Maksimovic; L. Cacciapuoti; J. Grünert; C. Vian; F. Pereira dos Santos; P. Rosenbusch; P. Lemonde; G. Santarelli; P. Wolf; A. Clairon; A. Luiten; M. Tobar; C. Salomon. Advances in atomic fountains. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 5 (2004) no. 8, pp. 829-843. doi : 10.1016/j.crhy.2004.09.003. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.1016/j.crhy.2004.09.003/

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