Single-atom optical clocks

DIPC Seminars

Speaker

David J. Wineland, NIST, Boulder, Colorado - Nobel Laureate in Physics 2012

When

2015/10/22
14:00

Place

Donostia International Physics Center. Pº Manuel Lardizabal 4, Donostia - San Sebastián

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With the availability of spectrally pure lasers and the ability to precisely measure optical frequencies, it appears the era of optical atomic clocks has begun. In one clock project at NIST we have used a single trapped Al+ ion to make a clock based on an ultraviolet transition. With single ions uncertainties in systematic effects are smallest, reaching a fractional error of Df/f0 = 8.0 x 10-18. At this level, many interesting effects, including those due to special and general relativity, must be calibrated and corrected for.