Lattice Induced Frequency Shifts in Sr Optical Lattice Clocks at the $10^{-17}$ Level

Philip G. Westergaard (1) , Jérôme Lodewyck (1) , Luca Lorini (1, 2) , Arnaud Lecallier (1) , Eric Burt (1, 3) , Michal Zawada (1, 4) , Jacques Millo (1) , Pierre Lemonde (1)

1 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
2 INRiM - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica
3 JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4 Institute of Physics

We present a comprehensive study of the frequency shifts associated with the lattice potential for a Sr lattice clock. By comparing two such clocks with a frequency stability reaching $5\times 10^{-17}$ after a one hour integration time, and varying the lattice depth up to $U_0=900 \, E_r$ with $E_r$ being the recoil energy, we evaluate lattice related shifts with an unprecedented accuracy. We put the first experimental upper bound on the recently predicted frequency shift due to the magnetic dipole (M1) and electric quadrupole (E2) interactions. This upper bound is significantly smaller than the theoretical upper limit. We also give a new upper limit on the effect of hyperpolarizability with an improvement by more than one order of magnitude. Finally, we report the first observation of the vector and tensor shifts in a lattice clock. Combining these measurements, we show that all known lattice related perturbation will not affect the clock accuracy down to the $10^{-17}$ level, even for very deep lattices, up to $U_0=150\,E_r$.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Philip G. Westergaard, Jérôme Lodewyck, Luca Lorini, Arnaud Lecallier, Eric Burt, et al.. Lattice Induced Frequency Shifts in Sr Optical Lattice Clocks at the $10^{-17}$ Level. 2011. ⟨hal-00563980⟩