title: Prospects for a millihertz-linewidth laser.
abstract: We propose a new light source based on having alkaline-earth atoms in an optical lattice collectively emit photons on an ultranarrow clock transition into the mode of a high Q resonator. The resultant optical radiation has an extremely narrow linewidth in the mHz range, even smaller than that of the clock transition itself due to collective effects. A power level of order 10;{-12} W is possible, sufficient for phase locking a slave optical local oscillator. Realizing this light source has the potential to improve the stability of the best clocks by 2 orders of magnitude.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Meiser
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Holland