Compact transportable 171Yb+ single-ion optical fully automated clock with 4.9E-16 relative instability

TL;DR

This paper reports the development of a compact, transportable 171Yb+ single-ion optical clock achieving a relative instability of 4.9E-16 at 1000 seconds, combining high precision with portability.

Contribution

It introduces a fully automated, compact optical clock based on a single 171Yb+ ion with demonstrated high stability and low weight, suitable for practical applications.

Findings

Achieved 4.9E-16 relative instability at 1000 s

Device weighs 298.1 kg and consumes 2.766 kW

Maintained stability during optical-to-RF signal transformation

Abstract

The paper describes the results achieved in the development of the compact transportable fully automated optical clock based on a single 171Yb+ ion in a radiofrequency (RF) quadrupole trap. The resulted measurements demonstrated the 4.9E-16 output RF signal relative instability on 1000 s integration time with 298.1 kg weight, 0.921 volume, and 2.766 kW input power consumption of the device. A transformation of the ultrastable optical signal into the RF range was performed via the optical frequency comb with a supercontinuum fiber laser generator. The transformation was conducted without loss of initial stability and accuracy characteristics of the signal.