Compact, cold-atom clock for Navy field use

Vescent Photonics proposes to develop a compact laser system and integrate it with a cold-atom micro primary standard developed under the DARPA IMPACT program. In phase I we will investigate performance enhancements resulting from immobilizing the cold-atom sample with an optical lattice formed from an optical field whose wavelength is chosen to minimize the differential light shifts between the states of the clock transition in rubidium vapor. The optical lattice can potentially increase the Ramsey interrogation time, reduce collisional broadening, and improve the readout of the hyperfine populations as well as reduce systematic error resulting from motion of the atoms in the microwave interrogation region. A successful Phase I effort will result in a clock design that improves upon stability, accuracy, and size, weight, and power as compared to commercially available primary standards based on cesium. In Phase II a complete laser system will be developed and integrated with a physics package. The Allan variance of the resulting clock will be tested over long times.