Integrated physics package of micromercury trapped ion clock with 10-14-level frequency stability

Mercury trapped ion clocks have demonstrated great long-term frequency stability and robustness. In this paper, we report a demonstration of an integrated 100-cc physics package in an effort to develop a micromercury trapped ion clock with high frequency stability. The physics package consists of a sealed 30-cc vacuum tube with one layer of magnetic shielding, light source, and detector assembly. A field emitter array and a 194-nm microplasma lamp were employed together with a microtrap tube to reduce the size and power consumption for a mercury trapped ion clock. We show that the 100-cc physics package is capable of providing a fractional frequency stability of 1 x 10(-11)tau(-1/2) down to 5 x 10(-14) after a few hours of integration. We also show a set of environmental sensitivity evaluations as well as the clock frequency retrace. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

By demonstrating a 100-cc physics package, we have shown that a micromercury trapped ion clock is capable of providing fractional frequency stability of 1 x 10(-11)tau(-1/2) down to 5 x 10(-14) after a few hours of integration. We also present a set of environmental sensitivity evaluations and clock frequency retrace.