Optical Atomic Clock aboard an Earth-orbiting Space Station (OACESS): Enhancing searches for physics beyond the standard model in space

Published

November 18, 2022

Author(s)

Vladimir Schkolnik, Dmitry Budker, Oliver Farttman, Victor Flambaum, Leo Hollberg, Tigran Kalaydzhyan, Shimon Kolkowitz, Markus Krutzik, Andrew Ludlow, Nathan R. Newbury, Christopher Pyrlik, Laura Sinclair, Yevgeny Stadnik, Ingmari Tietje, Jun Ye, Jason Williams

Abstract

We present a concept for a high-precision optical atomic clock (OAC) operating on an Earth-orbiting space station. This pathfinder science mission will compare the space-based OAC with one or more ultra-stable terrestrial OACs to search for space-time-dependent signatures of dark scalar fields that manifest as anomalies in the relative frequencies of station-based and ground-based clocks. This opens the possibility of probing models of new physics that are inaccessible to purely ground based OAC experiments such as models where a dark scalar field is strongly screened near Earth's surface.

Citation

Quantum Science and Technology

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

optical clock, frequency comb, time and frequency, dark matter

Citation

Schkolnik, V. , Budker, D. , Farttman, O. , Flambaum, V. , Hollberg, L. , Kalaydzhyan, T. , Kolkowitz, S. , Krutzik, M. , Ludlow, A. , Newbury, N. , Pyrlik, C. , Sinclair, L. , Stadnik, Y. , Tietje, I. , Ye, J. and Williams, J. (2022), Optical Atomic Clock aboard an Earth-orbiting Space Station (OACESS): Enhancing searches for physics beyond the standard model in space, Quantum Science and Technology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=934966 (Accessed January 6, 2025)