Development of a strontium optical lattice clock for the SOC mission on the ISS

作者:Bongs Kai; Singh Yeshpal; Smith Lyndsie; He Wei; Kock Ole; Swierad Dariusz; Hughes Joshua; Schiller Stephan*; Alighanbari Soroosh; Origlia Stefano; Vogt Stefan; Sterr Owe; Lisdat Christian; Le Targat Rodolphe; Lodewyck Jerome; Holleville David; Venon Bertrand; Bize Sebastien; Barwood Geoffrey P; Gill Patrick; Hill Ian R; Ovchinnikov Yuri B; Poli Nicola; Tino Guglielmo M; Stuhler Juergen; Kaenders Wilhelm
来源:Comptes Rendus Physique, 2015, 16(5): 553-564.
DOI:10.1016/j.crhy.2015.03.009

摘要

Ultra-precise optical clocks in space will allow new studies in fundamental physics and astronomy. Within an European Space Agency (ESA) program, the "Space Optical Clocks" (SOC) project aims to install and to operate an optical lattice clock on the International Space Station (ISS) towards the end of this decade. It would be a natural follow-on to the ACES mission, improving its performance by at least one order of magnitude. The payload is planned to include an optical lattice clock, as well as a frequency comb, a microwave link, and an optical link for comparisons of the ISS clock with ground clocks located in several countries and continents. Within the EU-FP7-SPACE-2010-1 project No. 263500, during the years 2011-2015 a compact, a modular and robust strontium lattice optical clock demonstrator has been developed. The goal performance is a fractional frequency instability below 1 x 10(-15) tau(-1/2) and a fractional inaccuracy below 5 x 10(-17). Here we describe the current status of the apparatus' development, including the laser subsystems. The robust preparation of cold Sr-88 atoms in a second-stage magneto-optical trap (MOT) is achieved.

  • 出版日期2015-6