Low velocity limits of cold atom clocks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how slow atomic quantum motion affects the accuracy of atomic clocks, analyzing the impact on resonance patterns and quantifying errors related to atomic velocity and interaction parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum mechanical analysis of low-velocity effects on atomic clock precision, extending classical models to include quantum motion perturbations.

Findings

Fractional error depends on atomic velocity and interaction parameters.

Quantum motion causes measurable deviations in resonance fringe patterns.

Results inform limits of clock accuracy at low atomic velocities.

Abstract

Fundamental low-energy limits to the accuracy of quantum clock and stopwatch models in which the clock hand motion is activated by the presence of a particle in a region of space have been studied in the past, but their relevance for actual atomic clocks had not been assessed. In this work we address the effect of slow atomic quantum motion on Rabi and Ramsey resonance fringe patterns, as a perturbation of the results based on classical atomic motion. We find the dependence of the fractional error of the corresponding atomic clocks on the atomic velocity and interaction parameters.