Building a better atomic clock

Abstract

DateThe final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. this work documents the first optical lattice clock to best all other atomic clock implementations, a mere 8 years after the first proof of principle experiments. In this thesis I will describe how we have overcome a number of important systematic uncertainties to achieve these results. This revolution in accuracy and precision opens the door for new experiments utilizing the clock as a probe of quantum many-body physics. To this end, a new apparatus has been designed that combines the unprecedented precision of clock experiments with the amazing progress attained in quantum gas experiments. DedicationTo my family, both old and new.