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A Clairon

Publications and source records attributed to A Clairon.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Search for variations of fundamental constants using atomic fountain clocks.

Over five years, we have compared the hyperfine frequencies of 133Cs and 87Rb atoms in their electronic ground state using several laser-cooled 133Cs and 87Rb atomic fountains with an accuracy of approximately 10(-15). These measurements set a stringent upper bound to a possible fractional time variation of the ratio between the two frequencies: d/dt ln([(nu(Rb))/(nu(Cs))]=(0.2+/-7.0)x 10(-16) yr(-1) (1sigma uncertainty). The same limit applies to a possible variation of the quantity (mu(Rb)/mu(Cs))alpha(-0.44), which involves the ratio of nuclear magnetic moments and the fine structure constant.

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PubMed2003

Efficient cooling and trapping of strontium atoms.

We report the capture of cold strontium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) at a rate of 4 x 10(10) atoms/s. The MOT is loaded from an atomic beam decelerated by a Zeeman slower operating with a focused laser beam. The 461-nm laser, used for both cooling and trapping, was generated by sum-frequency mixing in a KTP crystal with diode lasers at 813 nm and a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. As much as 115 mW of blue light was obtained.

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PubMed2002

Controlling the cold collision shift in high precision atomic interferometry.

We present a new method based on a transfer of population by adiabatic passage that allows one to prepare cold atomic samples with a well-defined ratio of atomic density and atom number. This method is used to perform a measurement of the cold collision frequency shift in a laser cooled cesium clock at the percent level, which makes the evaluation of the cesium fountain accuracy at the 10(-16) level realistic. With improvements, the adiabatic passage would allow measurements of density-dependent phase shifts at the 10(-3) level in high precision experiments.

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PubMed2000

Cold collision frequency shifts in a 87Rb atomic fountain.

We present measurements of cavity frequency pulling and collisional frequency shifts in a 87Rb fountain with a frequency resolution of 3x10(-16). Agreement with theory is found for the cavity pulling and the measured collisional shifts. The clock shift is found at least 50 times smaller than in 133Cs.

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PubMed2000

Measurement of the hydrogen 1S- 2S transition frequency by phase coherent comparison with a microwave cesium fountain clock

We report on an absolute frequency measurement of the hydrogen 1S-2S two-photon transition in a cold atomic beam with an accuracy of 1.8 parts in 10(14). Our experimental result of 2 466 061 413 187 103(46) Hz has been obtained by phase coherent comparison of the hydrogen transition frequency with an atomic cesium fountain clock. Both frequencies are linked with a comb of laser frequencies emitted by a mode locked laser.

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PubMed2000

New Accurate Fit of an Extended Set of Saturation Data for the nu(3) Band of SF(6): Comparison of Hamiltonians in the Spherical and Cubic Tensor Formalisms.

An extended set of 321 frequencies of vibration-rotation lines of the nu(3) band of SF(6) has been measured by saturation spectroscopy using various isotopic species of CO(2). A least-squares fit of these data has been performed using an effective Hamiltonian written either with a spherical tensor or with a cubic tensor formalism. We have derived correspondence formulas between the parameters in the two approaches and checked that both formalisms give the same results up to the seventh order. Corrected parameters are given for the fit with a fifth-order Hamiltonian. An accurate representation of the band is obtained at the tenth order (standard deviation approximately 12 kHz) with a remarkable predictive power (better than 40 kHz) for J values </= 100. The convergence properties of the Hamiltonian power expansion are discussed. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

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