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SUMMARY:Optical Atomic Clocks - Prof Patrick Gill (NPL)
DTSTART:20090511T143000Z
DTEND:20090511T160000Z
UID:TALK16921@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:6270
DESCRIPTION:The microwave caesium atomic clock has formed an enduring basi
 s for the SI second over the last few decades. The advent of laser cooling
  has underpinned the development of the cold caesium fountain clock\, whic
 h demonstrates a frequency uncertainty of 1 part in 1015 per day. Since th
 e turn of the century\, the pace of research into alternative atomic clock
  technologies based on optical clocks has quickened considerably\, to the 
 extent that they now challenge the performance of the Cs fountain clock. T
 his has been achieved in part by the arrival of the femtosecond comb which
  allows the high accuracy inter-relation between microwave and optical fre
 quencies.\n\nOptical clocks are based on state-of-the-art frequency-stabil
 ised lasers probing very weak absorptions in a single cold trapped ion hel
 d in an electromagnetic trap or in an ensemble of cold atoms trapped withi
 n an optical lattice. This talk will aim to contrast the performance of tr
 apped ion and optical lattice neutral atom clocks with the caesium fountai
 n\, discuss issues in remote high-accuracy clock comparison and point to f
 uture opportunities and applications.\n
LOCATION:HEP Seminar Room (980) Rutherford Building\, Cavendish Laboratory
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