Determination of the Fine Structure Constant Based on Bloch Oscillations of Ultracold Atoms in a Vertical Optical Lattice

Pierre Cladé, Estefania de Mirandes, Malo Cadoret, Saïda Guellati-Khélifa, Catherine Schwob, François Nez, Lucile Julien, and François Biraben
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 033001 – Published 23 January 2006

Abstract

We report an accurate measurement of the recoil velocity of Rb87 atoms based on Bloch oscillations in a vertical accelerated optical lattice. We transfer about 900 recoil momenta with an efficiency of 99.97% per recoil. A set of 72 measurements of the recoil velocity, each one with a relative uncertainty of about 33 ppb in 20 min integration time, leads to a determination of the fine structure constant α with a statistical relative uncertainty of 4.4 ppb. The detailed analysis of the different systematic errors yields to a relative uncertainty of 6.7 ppb. The deduced value of α1 is 137.03599878(91).

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  • Received 26 July 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.033001

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Pierre Cladé1, Estefania de Mirandes1, Malo Cadoret1, Saïda Guellati-Khélifa2, Catherine Schwob1, François Nez1, Lucile Julien1, and François Biraben1

  • 1Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, UPMC, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
  • 2INM, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, 292 rue Saint Martin, 75141 Paris Cedex 03, France

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Vol. 96, Iss. 3 — 27 January 2006

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