Piotr Wcisło

Strontium optical lattice clocks for practical realization of the metre and secondary representation of the second

We present a system of two independent strontium optical lattice standards probed with a single shared ultranarrow laser. The absolute frequency of the clocks can be verified by the use of Er:fiber optical frequency comb with the GPS-disciplined Rb frequency standard. We report hertz-level spectroscopy of the clock line and measurements of frequency stability of the two strontium optical lattice clocks.

Velocity-changing collisions in pure H2 and H2-Ar mixture

We show how to effectively introduce a proper description of the velocity-changing collisions into the model of isolated molecular transition for the case of self- and Ar-perturbed H2. We demonstrate that the billiard-ball (BB) approximation of the H2-H2 and H2-Ar potentials gives an accurate description of the velocity-changing collisions. The BB model results are compared with ab initio classical molecular dynamics simulations. It is shown that the BB model correctly reproduces not only the principal properties such as frequencies of velocity-changing collisions or collision kernels, but also other characteristics of H2-H2 and H2-Ar gas kinetics like rate of speed-changing collisions. Finally, we present line-shape measurement of the Q(1) line of the first overtone band of self-perturbed H2. We quantify the systematic errors of line-shape analysis caused by the use of oversimplified description of velocity-changing collisions. These conclusions will have significant impact on recent rapidly developing ultra-accurate metrology based on Doppler-limited spectroscopic measurements such as Doppler-width thermometry, atmosphere monitoring, Boltzmann constant determination, or transition position and intensity determination for fundamental studies.

One-dimensional frequency-based spectroscopy

Recent developments in optical metrology have tremendously improved the precision and accuracy of the horizontal (frequency) axis in measured spectra. However, the vertical (typically absorbance) axis is usually based on intensity measurements that are subject to instrumental errors which limit the spectrum accuracy. Here we report a one-dimensional spectroscopy that uses only the measured frequencies of high-finesse cavity modes to provide complete information about the dispersive properties of the spectrum. Because this technique depends solely on the measurement of frequencies or their differences, it is insensitive to systematic errors in the detection of light intensity and has the potential to become the most accurate of all absorptive and dispersive spectroscopic methods. The experimental results are compared to measurements by two other high-precision cavity-enhanced spectroscopy methods. We expect that the proposed technique will have significant impact in fields such as fundamental physics, gas metrology and environmental remote sensing.

Strong competition between velocity-changing and phase-/state-changing collisions in H2 spectra perturbed by Ar

A collisional inhomogeneous broadening of the H2 Q(1) line perturbed by Ar was observed for the first time 25 years ago. Several attempts were made to explain the line broadening from ab initio calculations , which however resulted in fundamental discrepancies between the theory and experiment. To resolve this problem we investigate two possible sources of these differences. First, we repeat the ab initio calculations of the broadening and shifting speed dependence, using in the scattering calculations a new, highly-accurate ab initio H2-Ar interaction potential. Second, we replace the previous phenomenological models of velocity-changing collisions with a more physical one based on the interaction potential. This allows us to properly reproduce the experimental broadening over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. We show that this abnormal broadening is caused by strong competition between the velocity-changing collisions and speed-dependent shifting, especially at high pressures.

Absolute molecular transition frequencies measured by three cavity-enhanced spectroscopy techniques

Absolute frequencies of unperturbed (12)C(16)O transitions from the near-infrared (3-0) band were measured with uncertainties five-fold lower than previously available data. The frequency axis of spectra was linked to the primary frequency standard. Three different cavity enhanced absorption and dispersion spectroscopic methods and various approaches to data analysis were used to estimate potential systematic instrumental errors. Except for a well established frequency-stabilized cavity ring-down spectroscopy, we applied the cavity mode-width spectroscopy and the one-dimensional cavity mode-dispersion spectroscopy for measurement of absorption and dispersion spectra, respectively. We demonstrated the highest quality of the dispersion line shape measured in optical spectroscopy so far. We obtained line positions of the Doppler-broadened R24 and R28 transitions with relative uncertainties at the level of 10(-10). The pressure shifting coefficients were measured and the influence of the line asymmetry on unperturbed line positions was analyzed. Our dispersion spectra are the first demonstration of molecular spectroscopy with both axes of the spectra directly linked to the primary frequency standard, which is particularly desirable for the future reference-grade measurements of molecular spectra.

Absolute frequency measurement of rubidium 5S–7S two-photon transitions

We report the absolute frequency measurements of rubidium 5S-7S two-photon transitions with an optical frequency comb. The digital lock to the transition, the procedures of evaluating the accuracy budget and measurements of the frequency with the optical frequency comb are tested with a simple setup for the sake of comparison of two optical lattice strontium clocks. The narrow, two-photon transition, 5S-7S (760 nm) is insensitive to a magnetic field and promising candidate for frequency standard. The preformed tests yield the transition frequency with accuracy better than reported previously.

One-dimensional cavity mode-dispersion spectroscopy for validation of CRDS technique

Detection of systematic errors of the measurement method is a demanding task, since it requires an independent, high-accuracy reference method for comparison. Here, we validate the cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) in relation to the one-dimensional cavity mode-dispersion spectroscopy (1D-CMDS). The complex line-shape function is used for the first time in the simultaneous analysis of absorptive and dispersive spectra and its potential in accurate line-shape studies is indicated. A new approach providing insensitivity of the 1D-CMDS to the drift of the laser-to-cavity locking point is demonstrated.

Multispectrum-fitting of phenomenological collisional line-shape models to a speed-dependent Blackmore profile for spectroscopic analysis and databases

A variety of phenomenological line-shape models are compared with a speed-dependent Blackmore profile describing an O2 spectral line. Multispectrum fitting techniques and quality of the fit parameter were used to quantify this comparison. It allowed to indicate which models are adequate for analysis of spectra measured with a given signal to noise ratio. This research has an impact on interpretation of spectral analysis results, improvement of spectroscopic databases, atmospheric remote sensing, trace gas metrology, and Doppler thermometry.

Two independent strontium optical lattice clocks for practical realization of the meter and secondary representation of the second

We report a system of two independent strontium optical lattice standards probed with a single shared ultra-narrow laser. This allows verification of relative stability of both optical standards. The absolute frequency of the clocks can be roughly verified by the use of an optical frequency comb with the GPS-disciplined Rb frequency standard or, more accurately, by a long distance stabilized fiber optic link with the UTC(AOS) and UTC(PL) via the OPTIME network.

Experimental constraint on dark matter-standard model coupling with optical atomic clocks

We have shown that a single optical atomic clock can be used as a detector for the hypothetical dark matter in the form of stable topological defects, for example, monopoles, strings or domain walls. We exploited differences in the susceptibilities to the fine-structure constant of essential parts of an optical atomic clock, i.e. the atoms and the cavity. We perform an experiment which constrained the strength of atomic coupling to hypothetical dark-matter cosmic objects. Under the conditions of our experiments, the degree of constraint was found to exceed the previously reported limits by more than three orders of magnitude [1].