Optical frequency standards based on the super(199)Hg super(+) ion

• Published in: IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement Vol. 52; no. 2
• Main Authors: Tanaka, U, Bergquist, J C, Bize, S, Diddams, SA, Drullinger, R E, Hollberg, L, Itano, WM, Tanner, CE, Wineland, D J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-01-2003
• Subjects: Clocks; Construction standards; Instrumentation; Lasers; Optical frequency; System built; Titanium
• ISSN: 0018-9456
• DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2003.810008

We report on work directed toward the systematic evaluation of an optical frequency standard based on the super(2)S sub(1)2/- super(2)D sub(5)2/ transition of a single, laser-cooled, trapped super(199)Hg super(+) ion, whose resonance frequency is 1.0610 super(15) Hz. For the purpose of the evaluation, a second super(199)Hg super(+) standard has been constructed. In the cooling-laser system built for the second standard, an injection-locking scheme has been applied to a CW Ti-sapphire laser. We also report optical frequency measurements of the clock transition performed over the past 21 months with the first standard. During this term, the variation of the clock transition frequency is found to be less than +/-110 super(-14).