A precise measurement of h/m_{Rb} using Bloch oscillations in a vertical optical lattice: determination of the fine structure constant

Pierre Cladé (1) , Estefania de Mirandes (1) , Malo Cadoret (1) , Saïda Guellati-Khélifa (2) , Catherine Schwob (1) , François Nez (1) , Lucile Julien (1) , François Biraben (1)

1 LKB (Jussieu) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel
2 LCM - Laboratoire commun de métrologie LNE-CNAM

Bloch oscillations in a frequency chirped optical lattice are a powerful tool to transfer coherently many photon momenta to the atoms. We have used this method to measure accurately the ratio h/m_{Rb}. In this paper we detail the experimental procedure and we present a complete analysis of the different systematic effects. They yield to a global relative uncertainty of 13 ppb. The measured value of h/m_{Rb} is 4.591 359 29 (6)\times10^{-9}~m^2\cdot s^{-1}. The deduced value of the fine structure constant is \alpha^{-1}=137.035 998 84 (91) with a relative uncertainty of 6.7 ppb.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Pierre Cladé, Estefania de Mirandes, Malo Cadoret, Saïda Guellati-Khélifa, Catherine Schwob, et al.. A precise measurement of h/m_{Rb} using Bloch oscillations in a vertical optical lattice: determination of the fine structure constant. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2006, 74 (5), pp.052109. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.74.052109⟩. ⟨hal-00322726⟩