A cold-atom Ramsey clock with a low volume physics package

Abstract

Abstract We demonstrate a Ramsey-type microwave clock interrogating the 6.835 GHz ground-state transition in cold $$^{87}$$ 87 Rb atoms loaded from a grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) enclosed in an additively manufactured loop-gap resonator microwave cavity. A short-term stability of $$1.5 \times 10^{-11} \tau ^{-1/2}$$ 1.5 × 10 - 11 τ - 1 / 2 is demonstrated, in reasonable agreement with predictions from the signal-to-noise ratio of the measured Ramsey fringes. The cavity-grating package has a volume of $$\approx $$ ≈ 67 cm $$^{3}$$ 3 , ensuring an inherently compact system while the use of a GMOT drastically simplifies the optical requirements for laser cooled atoms. This work is another step towards the realisation of highly compact portable cold-atom frequency standards.