A scalable infrastructure for strontium optical clocks with integrated photonics

TL;DR

This paper presents a scalable infrastructure for strontium optical clocks using integrated photonics, enabling more compact, robust, and scalable quantum measurement systems.

Contribution

It introduces a co-designed system combining atomic-beam slowing, MOTs, and integrated photonics for scalable and robust strontium optical clocks.

Findings

Realized MOTs for all stable strontium isotopes with populations matching natural abundances.

Demonstrated precise beam control and robustness in the system.

Enabled scalable system engineering for optical clocks and quantum sensing.

Abstract

Optical atomic clocks provide exceptionally accurate and precise signals for timekeeping and precision measurements, but they require high-power, free-space laser configurations that limit scalability. We introduce and explore a scalable infrastructure for strontium (Sr) optical-lattice clocks that incorporates co-design of atomic-beam slowing and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) from an effusion source, generation of complex, three-dimensional free-space laser configurations with a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) and metasurface (MS) optics, and laser stabilization to a frequency-comb supercontinuum generated with integrated nonlinear photonics. With these elements, we realize MOTs of all stable strontium isotopes ($^{84}$Sr, $^{86}$Sr, $^{87}$Sr, $^{88}$Sr) with populations commensurate with natural abundances, demonstrating precise beam control and robustness. Access to laser-cooled alkaline-earth atoms with scalable integrated photonics enables system engineering for optical clocks, quantum sensing, and quantum information, and our experiments demonstrate extensible technologies that advance toward a Sr optical clock largely free of bulk optics.