Inhibiting phase drift in multi-atom clocks using the quantum Zeno effect

TL;DR

This paper explores using the quantum Zeno effect to stabilize the relative phase of atoms in a clock, potentially improving precision by reducing phase drift and effective bandwidth.

Contribution

It introduces a method to utilize the quantum Zeno effect for phase locking in multi-atom clocks, enhancing accuracy by decreasing phase drift.

Findings

Quantum Zeno effect can lock the relative phase of atom pairs.

Phase locking reduces effective bandwidth by a factor of 1/√N.

Potential for improved atomic clock precision.

Abstract

The accuracy of an atomic clock depends in part on the bandwidth of the relevant atomic transitions. Here we consider an ensemble of $N$ atoms whose transition frequencies have been independently perturbed by environmental effects or other factors. We consider the possibility of using the quantum Zeno effect to lock the relative phase of the atoms, which would decrease their effective bandwidth by a factor of $1/\sqrt{N}$. We analyze an example in which the quantum Zeno effect can be used to lock the relative phase of a pair of atoms, after which the elapsed time can be determined. Practical applications may require $N>>1$ in order to achieve a good signal-to-noise ratio.