A two-color magneto-optical trap of Strontium in pursuit of a continuous atomic clock

Abstract

In this thesis we describe our work on the creation and characterization of a two-color magneto-optical trap suitable for continuous extraction of ultracold Sr atoms. Such a trap would be a very important building block of a continuous atomic frequency standard. With interruption-free evaluation of this standard, the accuracy of neutral atomic clocks could be improved significantly, therefore enabling several important applications. In this work we will give a brief introduction into the general topic of atomic clocks, and the aforementioned applications in which a continuous clock could provide an improvement. Then we will provide a summary of the relevant theoretical concepts, followed by a detailed discussion of our measurement results. We finish the work with a description of theoretical calculations and their comparison to our measurement data regarding the achievable minimum temperatures in such a trap.