Optical Telecommunications-Band Clock based on Neutral Titanium Atoms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel optical clock based on neutral titanium atoms with narrow transitions suitable for telecommunication integration, offering improved stability and reduced environmental shifts for optical frequency standards.

Contribution

The work presents the first detailed theoretical analysis of a titanium-based optical clock, including transition properties, polarizabilities, and magic wavelengths, enabling telecommunications-band clock development.

Findings

Titanium transitions have smaller black body radiation shifts.

Identified magic trapping wavelengths for titanium atoms.

Proposed methods to mitigate magnetic dipole-dipole interaction effects.

Abstract

We propose an optical clock based on narrow, spin-forbidden M1 and E2 transitions in laser-cooled neutral titanium. These transitions exhibit much smaller black body radiation shifts than those in alkaline earth atoms, small quadratic Zeeman shifts, and have wavelengths in the S, C, and L-bands of fiber-optic telecommunication standards, allowing for integration with robust laser technology. We calculate lifetimes; transition matrix elements; dynamic scalar, vector, and tensor polarizabilities; and black body radiation shifts of the clock transitions using a high-precision relativistic hybrid method that combines a configuration interaction and coupled cluster approaches. We also calculate the line strengths and branching ratios of the transitions used for laser cooling. To identify magic trapping wavelengths, we have completed the largest-to-date direct dynamical polarizability calculations. Finally, we identify new challenges that arise in precision measurements due to magnetic dipole-dipole interactions and describe an approach to overcome them. Direct access to a telecommunications-band atomic frequency standard will aid the deployment of optical clock networks and clock comparisons over long distances.