Optical clocks based on ultranarrow three-photon resonances in alkaline earth atoms

A sharp resonance line that appears in three-photon transitions between the S-1(0) and P-3(0) states of alkaline earth and Yb atoms is proposed as an optical frequency standard. This proposal permits the use of the even isotopes, in which the clock transition is narrower than in proposed clocks using the odd isotopes and the energy interval is not affected by external magnetic fields or the polarization of trapping light. With this method, the width and the rate of the clock transition can, in principle, be continuously adjusted from the MHz level to sub-mHz without loss of signal amplitude by varying the intensities of the three optical beams. Doppler and recoil effects can be eliminated by proper alignment of the three optical beams or by point confinement in a lattice trap. Light-shift effects on the clock accuracy can be limited to below a part in 10(18).