Micromagic clock: microwave clock based on atoms in an engineered optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel microwave atomic clock using atoms trapped in engineered optical lattices, leveraging magic wavelengths to improve systematic error control and achieve accuracy comparable to current standards.

Contribution

It presents a new atomic microwave clock design based on hyperfine transitions in atoms trapped at magic wavelengths, enhancing systematic error management.

Findings

Magic wavelengths exist for aluminum and gallium atoms in optical lattices.

The proposed clock's accuracy rivals existing primary frequency standards.

Systematic effects are effectively controlled in the new clock design.

Abstract

We propose a new class of atomic microwave clocks based on the hyperfine transitions in the ground state of aluminum or gallium atoms trapped in optical lattices. For these elements magic wavelengths exist at which both levels of the hyperfine doublet are shifted at the same rate by the lattice laser field, cancelling its effect on the clock transition. Our analysis of various systematic effects shows that, while offering an improved control over systematic errors, the accuracy of the proposed microwave clock is competitive to that of the state-of-the-art primary frequency standard.