Molecular lattice clock with long vibrational coherence
Molecular lattice clock with long vibrational coherence
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DOI：
10.1038/s41567-019-0632-3
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发表时间：
2019-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
19.6
通讯作者：
Zelevinsky, T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kondov, S. S.;Lee, C-H;Zelevinsky, T.
原子晶格钟催生了众多用于基础物理测试、广义相对论效应探测以及相互作用多体系统研究的设想。另一方面，分子结构与动力学提供了丰富的能量尺度，这是精密测量和量子信息科学新方案的核心所在。在此，我们展示了一种从根本上截然不同的晶格钟，它基于双原子分子的振动，并且呈现出弱束缚与深束缚分子之间持续数十毫秒的相干拉比振荡。这种操控之所以成为可能，得益于一种对状态不敏感的幻光晶格势阱，它与分子振转共振的耦合较弱，将光致钟态叠加的相干时间提高了几个数量级。所实现的品质因数Q = 8×10¹¹，源自锶₂分子中25太赫兹钟跃迁的30赫兹窄共振。我们的扩展相干操控技术适用于基于超冷极性分子的量子比特中量子信息的长期存储，而振动钟则能够对原子间作用力进行精确探测、在超短距离下测试牛顿引力，以及在不依赖模型的情况下探寻电子与质子质量比的变化。
Atomic lattice clocks have spurred numerous ideas for tests of fundamental physics, detection of general relativistic effects and studies of interacting many-body systems. On the other hand, molecular structure and dynamics offer rich energy scales that are at the heart of new protocols in precision measurement and quantum information science. Here, we demonstrate a fundamentally distinct type of lattice clock that is based on vibrations in diatomic molecules, and present coherent Rabi oscillations between weakly and deeply bound molecules that persist for tens of milliseconds. This control is made possible by a state-insensitive magic lattice trap that weakly couples to molecular vibronic resonances and enhances the coherence time of light-induced clock state superpositions by several orders of magnitude. The achieved quality factor Q = 8 x 10(11) results from 30 Hz narrow resonances for a 25 THz clock transition in Sr-2 molecules. Our technique of extended coherent manipulation is applicable to long-term storage of quantum information in qubits based on ultracold polar molecules, while the vibrational clock enables precise probes of interatomic forces, tests of Newtonian gravitation at ultrashort range and model-independent searches for electron-to-proton mass ratio variations.