Many-Body Gap Protection against Motional Dephasing of an Optical Clock Transition

Quantum simulation and metrology with atoms, ions, and molecules often rely on using light fields to manipulate their internal states. The absorbed momentum from the light fields can induce spin-orbit coupling and associated motional-induced (Doppler) dephasing, which may limit the coherence time available for metrology and simulation. We experimentally demonstrate the suppression of Doppler dephasing on a strontium optical clock transition by enabling atomic interactions through a shared mode in a high-finesse optical ring cavity. The interactions create a many-body energy gap that increases with atom number, suppressing motional dephasing when it surpasses the dephasing energy scale. This collective approach offers an alternative to traditional methods, like Lamb-Dicke confinement or Mössbauer spectroscopy, for advancing optical quantum sensors and simulations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Letters
Published
2025-03-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.113403
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.49

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article

Many-Body Gap Protection against Motional Dephasing of an Optical Clock Transition

Zhijing Niu, Vera M. Schäfer, Eric Yilun Song, Dylan J. Young et al.
2 citations
Physical Review Letters
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
2.49
article

Many-Body Gap Protection against Motional Dephasing of an Optical Clock Transition

Zhijing Niu, Vera M. Schäfer, Eric Yilun Song, Dylan J. Young, Anjun Chu, James K. Thompson, Ana María Rey, Haoqing Zhang, Corina Wagner, N. Taylor
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Quantum simulation and metrology with atoms, ions, and molecules often rely on using light fields to manipulate their internal states. The absorbed momentum from the light fields can induce spin-orbit coupling and associated motional-induced (Doppler) dephasing, which may limit the coherence time available for metrology and simulation. We experimentally demonstrate the suppression of Doppler dephasing on a strontium optical clock transition by enabling atomic interactions through a shared mode in a high-finesse optical ring cavity. The interactions create a many-body energy gap that increases with atom number, suppressing motional dephasing when it surpasses the dephasing energy scale. This collective approach offers an alternative to traditional methods, like Lamb-Dicke confinement or Mössbauer spectroscopy, for advancing optical quantum sensors and simulations.

Physical Review LettersVol. 134(11)
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), University of Colorado System (US), Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (DE)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Heising-Simons Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
2.49
DOISourceOpenAlex
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