Trapping of Neutral Mercury Atoms and Prospects for Optical Lattice Clocks

Journal Article · Fri Feb 08 00:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.100.053001· OSTI ID:21024716

Hachisu, H; Takamoto, M; Katori, H ^[1]; Miyagishi, K ^[1]; Porsev, S G ^[2]; Derevianko, A ^[3]; Ovsiannikov, V D ^[4]; Pal'chikov, V G ^[5]

---

1. Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 (Japan)
2. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, Leningrad District, 188300 (Russian Federation)
3. Physics Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557 (United States)
4. Physics Department, Voronezh State University, Universitetskaya ploschad 1, 394006, Voronezh (Russian Federation)
5. Institute of Metrology for Time and Space at National Research Institute for Physical-Technical and Radiotechnical Measurements, Mendeleevo, Moscow Region, 141579 (Russian Federation)

We report vapor-cell magneto-optical trapping of Hg isotopes on the {sup 1}S{sub 0}-{sup 3}P{sub 1} intercombination transition. Six abundant isotopes, including four bosons and two fermions, were trapped. Hg is the heaviest nonradioactive atom trapped so far, which enables sensitive atomic searches for ''new physics'' beyond the standard model. We propose an accurate optical lattice clock based on Hg and evaluate its systematic accuracy to be better than 10{sup -18}. Highly accurate and stable Hg-based clocks will provide a new avenue for the research of optical lattice clocks and the time variation of the fine-structure constant.

• OSTI ID: 21024716
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.053001; (c) 2008 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BOSONS
FERMIONS
FINE STRUCTURE
MERCURY
MERCURY ISOTOPES
STANDARD MODEL
TRAPPING