The trapping and laser cooling of ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion on the way toward optical frequency standards have been developed. A single ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion is trapped in the miniature Paul trap and laser cooled by two frequency-stabilized diode lasers. A commercial Ti:Sapphire laser system at 729 nm is referenced to a high-finesse cavity to meet the requirements of ultra narrow linewidth of the 4s²S_1/2-3d²D_5/2 electric quadrupole transition. Its center frequency is preliminarily measured to be 411 042 129 686.1 (2.6) kHz. The attempt to finally lock the 729-nm laser system to atomic transition is made. Further work to improve the accuracy of measurement and the stabilization of system locking is in consideration and preparation.

The second laser cooling cesium fountain clock NIM5 at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM) China adopts the (1,1,1) direct optical molasses ( OM) configuration. NIM5 has been running with a stability of 3×10^-15/d and an operation ratio of 99% since 2007. Preliminary evaluations of NIM5 in 2008 showed a typical combined uncertainty of 3×10^-15. The NIM5 clock is operating in parallel with NIM’s first fountain clock NIM4. NIM4 and NIM5 are used to steer the frequency of the calculated NIM atomic time TA-c(NIM) and the first set of results are promising. We are now at the stage of comparing the frequency of NIM5 with UTC to support the independent frequency shift evaluations of NIM5 and contribute to the international atomic time in the near future.

The experiments on the laser cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms are reported, including the two-dimensional transversal cooling, longitudinal velocity Zeeman deceleration, and a magneto-optical trap with a broadband transition at a wavelength of 399 nm. The magnetic field distributions along the axis of a Zeeman slower were measured and in a good agreement with the calculated results. Cold ytterbium atoms were produced with a number of about 10⁷ and a temperature of a few milli-Kelvin. In addition, using a 556-nm laser, the excitations of cold ytterbium atoms at ¹S₀-³P₁ transition were observed. The ytterbium atoms will be further cooled in a 556-nm magneto-optical trap and loaded into a three-dimensional optical lattice to make an ytterbium optical clock.

Persistent efforts in both theory and experiment have yielded increasingly precise understanding of the helium atom. Because of its simplicity, the helium atom has long been a testing ground for relativistic and quantum electrodynamic effects in few-body atomic systems theoretically and experimentally. Comparison between theory and experiment of the helium spectroscopy in 1s2p³P_J can potentially extract a very precise value of the fine structure constant α. The helium atom can also be used to explore exotic nuclear structures. In this paper, we provide a brief review of the recent advances in precision calculations and measurements of the helium atom.

Precisely determining gravity acceleration g plays an important role on both geophysics and metrology. For gravity measurements and high-precision gravitation experiments, a cold atom gravimeter with the aimed resolution of 10^-9g/Hz^1/2 (1 g=9.8 m/s²) is being built in our cave laboratory. There will be four steps for our ⁸⁷Rb atom gravimeter, Magneto–Optical Trap (MOT) for cooling and trapping atoms, initial state preparation, π/2-π-π/2 Raman laser pulse interactions with cold atoms, and the final state detection for phase measurement. About 108 atoms have been trapped by our MOT and further cooled by moving molasses, and an atomic fountain has also been observed.

The influence of the wave-front curvature of Raman pulses on the measurement precision of gravitational acceleration in atom interferometry is analysed by the method of a transmission matrix. It is shown that the measurement precision of gravitational acceleration is largely dependent on the spot size of the Raman pulse, the temporal interval between Raman pulses and the optical path difference of the two counter-propagating Raman pulses. Moreover, the influence of Doppler frequency shift on the precision is discussed. In order to get a certain measurement precision, the requirement for the accuracy of frequency scanning of the Raman pulse to compensate for the Doppler frequency shift is obtained.

Experimental realization of cold ⁸⁵Rb atom interferometers and their applications in precision measurements are reported in this paper. Mach–Zehnder and Ramsey–Bordètype interferometers were demonstrated. Detailed descriptions of the interferometers are given including manipulation of cold atoms, Rabi oscillation, stimulated Raman transitions, and optical pumping. As an example of using atom interferometers in precision measurements, the quadratic Zeeman shift of hyperfine sublevels of ⁸⁵Rb was determined.

Cavity QED, as a fundamental system and research field, not only illuminates the primary aspects of decoherence and coherence in quantum dynamics, but also advances quantum information science. Manipulation of single atoms, in the context of cavity QED, is the essential element and has been becoming a hot issue for the past two decades. In this review paper, we will concentrate on the experimental aspects for manipulating the neutral atoms strongly coupled to a high-finesse cavity in the optical regime, including atomic cooling and trapping, different configurations of atom transportation and the wide variety of quantum outgrowths based on cavity QED, such as one atom laser, single photon source, etc. The cavity QED system at Shanxi University is briefly introduced.

This paper indroduces the precision test of Lorentz invariance using ultra-stable and low-loss optical cavities. The effective-field theory widely adopted in the analysis of experimental data has been reviewed. The sensitivity of the cavity resonant frequency to the Lorentz-violating tensor field is discussed in detail. In addition, the polarization of the optical field has been added to the model, and our analysis shows that the frequency shift due to Lorentz violation is not sensitive to the polarization of the optical field.

Low noise position measurement is fundamental for space inertial sensors, and at present the capacitive position sensor is widely employed for space inertial sensors. The design for the possible suppression of the front-end electric noises for a capacitive sensor is presented. A prototype capacitive sensor with 2×10^-6pF/Hz^1/2 at frequency above 0.04 Hz is achieved and further improvements are discussed.

The transmission spectrum of four-level atoms in a cavity is calculated. It is shown that the four separate peaks associated with normal mode splitting and intra-cavity double dark states can be observed simultaneously. The position and intensity of the four peaks can be controlled by the intensity of the third interacting light. Therefore, the enhancement of normal mode splitting by a third coupling light of the intra-cavity four-level atoms is developed.

In this paper, we report a novel method for accurately measuring the photo-induced birefringence of germanosilicate fibers by using an all fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The results indicate that the photo-induced normalized birefringence of C₅98-302(s) germanosilicate fiber can attain 10^-5 and is multi-decaying-exponentially proportional to the UV exposure.

In this work, we consider a quantum strongly correlated network described by an Anderson s - d mixing model. By introducing the Green function on the projected formalism of the Schrieffer and Wolf transformation, the energy spectrum of the system can be obtained. Using this result we calculate the survivability distribution of the network and discuss the local magnetism in the network, which shows that the survivability is an important statistical characteristic quantity not just to reflect the network topological property but also dynamics.

A “finite thickness lens” model for self-focusing (defocusing) in Kerr medium is presented. An onaxis normalization transmittance formula is presented for arbitrary nonlinear phase shift for the finite thickness Kerr medium by introducing a nonlinear ABCD-matrix for the transition of a Gaussian beam from linear to nonlinear medium, without complex calculation for the beam radius at the far field aperture. The variation of the peak and valley transmittance difference is found to enhance linearly as the phase shift at the focus increases by increasing the thickness of the medium. If the ratio of the Rayleigh distance divided by the thickness of the medium (d/z0) is constant and small enough, the peak and valley transmittance difference stays constant. Finally, a qualitative formula is presented to express the relationship between the system parameters and the on-axis phase shift at the focus.

In this work, we try to propose in a novel way, using the Bose and Fermi quantum network approach, a framework studying condensation and evolution of a space–time network described by the Loop quantum gravity. Considering quantum network connectivity features in Loop quantum gravity, we introduce a link operator, and through extending the dynamical equation for the evolution of the quantum network posed by Ginestra Bianconi to an operator equation, we get the solution of the link operator. This solution is relevant to the Hamiltonian of the network, and then is related to the energy distribution of network nodes. Showing that tremendous energy distribution induces a huge curved space–time network may indicate space time condensation in high-energy nodes. For example, in the case of black holes, quantum energy distribution is related to the area, thus the eigenvalues of the link operator of the nodes can be related to the quantum number of the area, and the eigenvectors are just the spin network states. This reveals that the degree distribution of nodes for the space–time network is quantized, which can form space–time network condensation. The black hole is a sort of result of space–time network condensation, however there may be more extensive space–time network condensations, such as the universe singularity (big bang).

The multi-linear variable separation approach is reviewed in this article. The method has been recently established and successfully solved a large number of nonlinear systems. One of the most exciting findings is that the basic multi-linear variable separation solution can be expressed by a universal formula including two (1+1)-dimensional functions, and at least one is arbitrary for integrable systems. Furthermore, the method has been extended in two different ways so as to enroll more low dimensional functions in the solution.

The problem of the directionality of genome evolution is studied. Based on the analysis of C-value paradox and the evolution of genome size, we propose that the function-coding information quantity of a genome always grows in the course of evolution through sequence duplication, expansion of code, and gene transfer from outside. The function-coding information quantity of a genome consists of two parts, p-coding information quantity that encodes functional protein and n-coding information quantity that encodes other functional elements. The evidences on the law of the evolutionary directionality are indicated. The needs of function are the motive force for the expansion of coding information quantity, and the information quantity expansion is the way to make functional innovation and extension for a species. Therefore, the increase of coding information quantity of a genome is a measure of the acquired new function, and it determines the directionality of genome evolution.