Chou, C.
, Hume, D.
, Thorpe, M.
, Wineland, D.
and Rosenband, T.
(2011),
Quamtum coherence between two atoms beyond Q=10<sup>15</sup>, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907695
(Accessed October 4, 2025)
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Quamtum coherence between two atoms beyond Q=1015
Published
Author(s)
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Abstract
We place two atoms in quantum superposition states and observe coherent phase evolution for 3.4 × 1015 cycles. Correlation signals from the two atoms yield information about their relative phase even after the probe radiation has decohered. This technique was applied to a frequency comparison of two 27Al+ ions, where a fractional uncertainty of 2.7 × 10−16 (extrapolated to 1 s measurement time) was observed. Two measures of the Q-factor are reported: The Q-factor derived from quantum coherence is 2.6 ± 1.1 × 1016 , and the spectroscopic Q-factor for a Ramsey time of 3 s is 6.7 × 1015. As part of this experiment, we demonstrate a method to detect the individual quantum states of two Al+ ions in an Al+ -Al+ -Mg+ linear ion chain without spatially resolving the ions.Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
106
Pub Type
Journals
Download Paper
Keywords
Quantum coherence, Quality factor, Individual quantum state detection, Stability
Citation
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Created April 22, 2011, Updated February 19, 2017