title: Direct excitation of the forbidden clock transition in neutral 174Yb atoms confined to an optical lattice.
abstract: We report direct single-laser excitation of the strictly forbidden (6s2)1S0 <--> (6s6p)3P0 clock transition in 174Yb atoms confined to a 1D optical lattice. A small (approximately 1.2 mT) static magnetic field was used to induce a nonzero electric dipole transition probability between the clock states at 578.42 nm. Narrow resonance linewidths of 20 Hz (FWHM) with high contrast were observed, demonstrating a resonance quality factor of 2.6 x 10(13). The previously unknown ac Stark shift-canceling (magic) wavelength was determined to be 759.35 +/- 0.02 nm. This method for using the metrologically superior even isotope can be easily implemented in current Yb and Sr lattice clocks and can create new clock possibilities in other alkaline-earth-like atoms such as Mg and Ca.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA. zbarber@boulder.nist.gov
authors.forename: Z W
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Hoyt
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Oates
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hollberg
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Taichenachev
authors.forename: V I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Yudin