Optical lattice induced light shifts in an yb atomic clock

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 100; no. 10; p. 103002
• Main Authors: Barber, Z W, Stalnaker, J E, Lemke, N D, Poli, N, Oates, C W, Fortier, T M, Diddams, S A, Hollberg, L, Hoyt, C W, Taichenachev, A V, Yudin, V I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 14-03-2008
• Subjects: ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS; ATOMIC CLOCKS; PHOTONS; POLARIZABILITY; RESONANCE; THZ RANGE 100-1000; WAVELENGTHS; YTTERBIUM 174
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.100.103002

We present an experimental study of the lattice-induced light shifts on the (1)S(0) --> (3)P(0) optical clock transition (nu(clock) approximately 518 THz) in neutral ytterbium. The "magic" frequency nu(magic) for the 174Yb isotope was determined to be 394 799 475(35) MHz, which leads to a first order light shift uncertainty of 0.38 Hz. We also investigated the hyperpolarizability shifts due to the nearby 6s6p(3)P(0) --> 6s8p(3)P(0), 6s8p(3)P(2), and 6s5f(3)F(2) two-photon resonances at 759.708, 754.23, and 764.95 nm, respectively. By measuring the corresponding clock transition shifts near these two-photon resonances, the hyperpolarizability shift was estimated to be 170(33) mHz for a linear polarized, 50 microK deep, lattice at the magic wavelength. These results indicate that the differential polarizability and hyperpolarizability frequency shift uncertainties in a Yb lattice clock could be held to well below 10(-17).