A Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator has been implemented at 11.2 GHz using a low-vibration design pulse-tube cryocooler. Compared with a state-of-the-art liquid helium cooled CSO in the same laboratory, the square root Allan variance of their combined fractional frequency instability is $σ_y = 1.4 \times 10^{-15}τ^{-1/2}$ for integration times $1 < τ< 10$ s, dominated by white frequency noise. The minimum $σ_y = 5.3 \times 10^{-16}$ for the two oscillators was reached at $τ= 20$ s. Assuming equal contributions from both CSOs, the single oscillator phase noise $S_ϕ \approx -96 \; dB \; rad^2/Hz$ at 1 Hz offset from the carrier.
A low maintenance long-term operational cryogenic sapphire oscillator has been implemented at 11.2 GHz using an ultra-low-vibration cryostat and pulse-tube cryocooler. It is currently the world's most stable microwave oscillator employing a cryocooler. Its performance is explained in terms of temperature and frequency stability. The phase noise and the Allan deviation of frequency fluctuations have been evaluated by comparing it to an ultra-stable liquid-helium cooled cryogenic sapphire oscillator in the same laboratory. Assuming both contribute equally, the Allan deviation evaluated for the c…
The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) experiment at Gran Sasso National Laboratory of INFN searches for neutrinoless double beta decay using TeO2 crystals as cryogenic bolometers. The sensitivity of the measurement heavily depends on the energy resolution of the detector, therefore the success of the experiment stands on the capability to provide an extremely low noise environment. One of the most relevant sources of noise are the mechanical vibrations induced by the five Pulse Tube cryocoolers used on the cryogenic system which houses the detectors. To address this pro…
We developed a system that continuously maintains a cryocooler for long periods on a rotating table. A cryostat that holds the cryocooler is set on the table. A compressor is located on the ground and supplies high-purity (> 99.999%) and high-pressure (1.7 MPa) helium gas and electricity to the cryocooler. The operation of the cryocooler and other instruments requires the development of interface components between the ground and rotating table. A combination of access holes at the center of the table and two rotary joints allows simultaneous circulation of electricity and helium gas. The deve…
We present the characterisation of three Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators using the three-corner-hat method. Easily implemented with commercial components and instruments, this method reveals itself very useful to analyse the frequency stability limitations of these state-of-the-art ultra-stable oscillators. The best unit presents a fractional frequency stability better than 5e-16 at 1 s and below 2e-16 for integration times less than 5,000s.
This article reports the design, the breadboarding and the validation of an ultra-stable Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator operated in an autonomous cryocooler. The objective of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of a frequency stability of 3x10-15 between 1 s and 1,000 s for the European Space Agency deep space stations. This represents the lowest fractional frequency instability ever achieved with cryocoolers. The preliminary results presented in this paper validate the design we adopted for the sapphire resonator, the cold source and the oscillator loop.
We report on the measurement and characterization of power to frequency conversion in the resonant mode of a cryogenic sapphire loaded cavity resonator, which is used as the frequency discriminating element of a loop oscillator circuit. Fluctuations of power incident on the resonator leads to changes in radiation pressure and temperature in the sapphire dielectric, both of which contribute to a shift in the resonance frequency. We measure a modulation and temperature independent radiation pressure induced power to frequency sensitivity of -0.15 Hz/mW and find that this is the primary factor li…
The Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator is today recognized for its unprecedented frequency stability, mainly coming from the exceptional physical properties of its resonator made in a high quality sapphire crystal. With these instruments, the fractional frequency measurement resolution, currently of the order of 1e-16, is such that it is possible to detect very small phenomena like residual resonator environmental sensitivities. Thus, we highlighted an unexpected magnetic sensitivity of the Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillator (CSO) at low magnetic field. The fractional frequency sensitivity has been prel…
We report on the evaluation of microwave frequency synthesis using two cryogenic sapphire oscillators developed at the University of Western Australia. A down converter is used to make comparisons between microwave clocks at different frequencies, where the synthesized signal has a stability not significantly different from the reference oscillator. By combining the CSO with a H-maser, a reference source of arbitrary frequency at X-band can be synthesized with a fractional frequency stability of sub-$4 \times 10^{-15}$ for integration times between 1 s and 10,000 s.
We have applied laser calorimetry to the measurement of optical absorption in mono-crystalline sapphire at cryogenic temperatures. Sapphire is a promising candidate for the mirror substrates of the Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational wave Telescope. The optical absorption coefficients of different sapphire samples at a wavelength of 1.064(micro)m at 5K were found to average 90ppm/cm.
KAGRA uses cryogenics to cool its sapphire test masses down to 20 K to reduce the thermal noise. However, cryocooler vibration and structural resonances of the cryostat couple to test mass and can contaminate the detector sensitivity. We performed vibration analysis of the cooling system at cryogenic temperature to study its impact on detector sensitivity. Our measurement show shield vibration below 1 Hz is not impacted by cryocooler operation or structural resonances and follows ground motion. The noise floor of the shield in 1-100 Hz was observed to be 2-3 order of magnitude larger than seis…
The cryogenic sapphire oscillator (CSO) is a highly specialized machine, which delivers a reference signal exhibiting the lowest frequency fluctuations. For the best units, the Allan deviation (ADEV) is <1e-15 for integration time between 1 and 10,000 s, with a drift <1e-14 in one day.The oscillator is based on a sapphire monocrystal resonating at 10 GHz in a whispering-gallery mode, cooled at 6 K for highest Q-factor and zero thermal coefficient. We report on the progress accomplished implementing eleven CSOs in about 10 years since the first sample delivered to the ESA station in Argentina. …
We report the reduction of the thermal lensing in cryogenic sapphire mirrors, which is planed to be used in the Large scale Cryogenic Gravitational wave Telescope (LCGT) project. We measured three key parameters of sapphire substrate for thermal lensing at cryogenic temperature. They are optical absorption coefficient, thermal conductivity and temperature coefficient of refractive index at cryogenic temperature. On basis of these measurements, we estimated the shot noise sensitivity of the interferometer with thermal lensing by using a wave-front tracing simulation. We found that thermal lensi…
To create a stable signal from a cryogenic sapphire maser frequency standard, the frequency-temperature dependence of the supporting Whispering Gallery mode must be annulled. We report the ability to control this dependence by manipulating the paramagnetic susceptibility of Fe3+ ions in the sapphire lattice. We show that the maser signal depends on other Whispering Gallery modes tuned to the pump signal near 31 GHz, and the annulment point can be controlled to exist between 5 to 10 K depending on the Fe3+ ion concentration and the frequency of the pump. This level of control has not been achie…
Here, we study the paramagnetic ions behavior in presence of a strong microwave electromagnetic field sustained inside a cryogenic sapphire whispering gallery mode resonator. The high frequency measurement resolution that can be now achieved by comparing two CSOs permit for the first time to observe clearly the non-linearity of the resonator power sensitivity. These observations that in turn allow us to optimize the CSO operation, are well explained by the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) saturation of the paramagnetic impurities contained in the sapphire crystal.
Two nominally identical ultra-stable cryogenic microwave oscillators are compared. Each incorporates a dielectric-sapphire resonator cooled to near 6 K in an ultra-low vibration cryostat using a low-vibration pulse-tube cryocooler. The phase noise for a single oscillator is measured at -105 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz offset on the 11.2 GHz carrier. The oscillator fractional frequency stability is characterized in terms of Allan deviation by 5.3 x 10^-16 tau^-1/2 + 9 x 10^-17 for integration times 0.1 s < tau < 1000 s and is limited by a flicker frequency noise floor below 1 x 10^-16. This result is better…
Complex cryogenics is still a strong limitation to the spread of quantum voltage standards and cryogen-free operation is then particularly interesting for Josephson standards. The main difficulties in He-free refrigeration are related to chip thermalization. We tested different solutions and interface materials between the chip and the cooling surface, to improve thermal conduction. Some junctions were chosen as elements to dissipate electrical power, while some others were operated as on-chip temperature sensors. Indium foil between chip and Cu support was demonstrated to provide a good therm…
This article shows the first measurement of three 100 MHz signals exhibiting fluctuations from 2E-16 to parts in 1E-15 for integration time tau between 1 s and 1 day. Such stable signals are provided by three Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators (CSOs) operating at about 10 GHz, also delivering the 100 MHz output via a dedicated synthesizer. The measurement is made possible by a 6-channel Tracking DDS (TDDS) and the two-sample covariance tool, used to estimate the Allan variance. The use of two TDDS channels per CSO enables high rejection of the instrument background noise. The covariance outperform…
The third-generation gravitational wave detectors are under development by operating the detector in cryogenic temperature to reduce the thermal noise. Silicon and sapphire are promising candidate materials for the test masses and suspension elements due to their remarkable mechanical and thermal properties at cryogenic temperature. Here we present the performances of the cryogenic thermal cycling and strength testing on hydroxide catalysis bonding between sapphire and silicon. Our results suggest that although these two materials have very different coefficients of thermal expansion, but if t…
We report on the development of a sapphire cryogenic microwave resonator oscillator long-term fractional frequency stability of 2x10^-17Sqrt[τ] for integration times τ>10^3 s and negative drift of about 2.2x10^-15/day. The short-term frequency instability of the oscillator is highly reproducible and also state-of-the-art: 5.6x10^-16 for an integration time of τ~ 20 s.
Monitoring motion originating from ultra low-temperature cooling systems like cryocoolers is important for vibration sensitive cryogenic experiments like KAGRA. Since no commercial cryogenic accelerometers are available, we developed a compact self-calibrating accelerometer with a Michelson interferometer readout for cryogenic use. Change in calibration factor and drop in interferometer output originating from temperature drop were the main concerns which were tackled. Sensitivity of $3.38\times10^{-11}$ m/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ at 1 Hz was achieved at 300 K. The accelerometer was tested inside …
We demonstrate practical accelerating gradients on a superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) accelerator cavity with cryocooler conduction cooling, a cooling technique that does not involve the complexities of the conventional liquid helium bath. A design is first presented that enables conduction cooling an elliptical-cell SRF cavity. Implementing this design, a single cell 650 MHz Nb3Sn cavity coupled using high purity aluminum thermal links to a 4 K pulse tube cryocooler generated accelerating gradients up to 6.6 MV/m at 100% duty cycle. The experiments were carried out with the cavity-cryocoo…
The phase noise and frequency stability measurements of 1 GHz, 100 MHz, and 10 MHz signals are presented which have been synthesized from microwave cryogenic sapphire oscillators using ultra-low-vibration pulse-tube cryocooler technology. We present the measured data using independent cryogenic oscillators for the 100 MHz and 10 MHz synthesized signals, whereas previously we only estimated the expected results based on residual phase noise measurements, when only one cryogenic oscillator was available. In addition we present the design of a 1 GHz synthesizer using a Crystek voltage controlled …
Cryogenics is a pivotal aspect in the development of quantum technologies. Closed-cycle devices have recently emerged as an environmentally friendly and low-maintenance alternative to liquid helium cryostats. Yet the larger level of vibrations in dry cryocoolers forbids their use in most sensitive applications. In a recent work, we have proposed an inertial, broadband, contactless sensor based on the piezospectroscopic effect, ie the natural sensitivity of optical lines to strain exhibited by impurities in solids. This sensor builds on the exceptional spectroscopic properties of rare earth ion…
We present the characterization of 8-12 GHz whispering gallery mode resonators machined in high-quality sapphire crystals elaborated with different growth techniques. These microwave resonators are intended to constitute the reference frequency of ultra-stable Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators. We conducted systematic tests near 4 K on these crystals to determine the unloaded Q-factor and the turnover temperature for whispering gallery modes in the 8-12 GHz frequency range. These characterizations show that high quality sapphire crystals elaborated with the Heat Exchange or the Kyropoulos growth …
This article reports on the long-term frequency stabilty characterisation of a new type of cryogenic sapphire oscillator using an autonomous pulse-tube cryocooler as its cold source. This new design enables a relative frequency stability of better than 4.5e-15 over one day of integration. This represents to our knowledge the best long-term frequency stability ever obtained with a signal source based on a macroscopic resonator.
We present new results from our test of Lorentz invariance, which compares two orthogonal cryogenic sapphire microwave oscillators rotating in the lab. We have now acquired over 1 year of data, allowing us to avoid the short data set approximation (less than 1 year) that assumes no cancelation occurs between the $\tildeκ_{e-}$ and $\tildeκ_{o+}$ parameters from the photon sector of the standard model extension. Thus, we are able to place independent limits on all eight $\tildeκ_{e-}$ and $\tildeκ_{o+}$ parameters. Our results represents up to a factor of 10 improvement over previous non rotati…
Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators (CSO) developed at UWA have now been in operation around the world continuously for many years. Such oscillators, due to their excellent spectral purity are essential for interrogating atomic frequency standards at the limit of quantum projection noise; otherwise aliasing effects will dominate the frequency stability due to the periodic sampling between successive interrogations of the atomic transition. For this reason, UWA oscillators are now operational at NMI (Sydney), LNE-SYRTE (Paris), the French Space Agency (CNES, Toulouse) and at UWA (Perth). Other appli…
Construction of a large-scale cryogenic gravitational-wave telescope KAGRA has been completed and the four sapphire test masses have been installed in cryostat vacuum chambers. It recently turned out that a sapphire substrate used for one of the input test masses shows a characteristic strcuture in its transmission map due to non-uniformity of the crystal. We performed an interferometer simulation to see the influence of the non-uniformity using measured transmission/reflection maps.
This paper reports the detailed noise characterization, investigation of various noise sources and its mitigation to improve the performance of a cryogenic bolometer detector. The noise spectrum has been measured for a sapphire bolometer test setup with indigenously developed NTD Ge sensor in the CFDR system at Mumbai. The effect of external noise, arising either from ground loops in the system or from the diagnostic and control electronics of the cryostat, on the performance of a cryogenic bolometer is assessed. A systematic comparison of the influence of different noise pickups on the bolome…
Design, construction, and testing of the PandaX-xT cryogenics system
Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学）；Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sichuan Research Institute（上海交通大学四川研究院）；Sun Yat-Sen University（中山大学）；Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Ltd.（雅砻江流域水电开发有限公司）
Amplification is usually necessary when measuring the frequency instability of microwave signals. In this work, we develop a flicker noise free frequency measurement system based on a common or shared amplifier. First, we show that correlated flicker phase noise can be cancelled in such a system. Then we compare the new system with the conventional by simultaneously measuring the beat frequency from two cryogenic sapphire oscillators with parts in 10^15 fractional frequency instability. We determine for low power, below -80 dBm, the measurements were not limited by correlated noise processes b…
We report the mirror suspension design for Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational wave Telescope, KAGRA, during bKAGRA Phase 1. Mirror thermal noise is one of the fundamental noises for room-temperature gravitational-wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. Thus, reduction of thermal noise is required for further improvement of their sensitivity. One effective approach for reducing thermal noise is to cool the mirrors. There are many technical challenges that must be overcome to cool the mirrors, such as cryocooler induced vibrations, thermal drift in suspensions, and reduction in…
The thermal lensing effects in the lasing crystal appear to be dominant when the pump laser focused on the lasing crystal which causes the local heating effect. The spatial refractive index variations observed if the crystal has non-uniform temperature distribution. In the present study, the demonstration of thermal lensing effect of Brewster-cut Ti: Sapphire crystal carried out when pumped by 25 ps pulses at 80 MHz repetition rate with 532 nm central wavelength, while the average pump power controlled by the attenuator. The thermal lensing effects measured first at the ~293 K temperature and …
We present the design and first measurement results for an ultra-stable cryogenically cooled optical sapphire resonator system with a potential relative frequency stability better than 3x10^-17. This level of oscillator stability allows for more precise tests of Einstein's theories of relativity and thus could help to find first hints of "new physics". We will give some details on a projected experiment to test Lorentz invariance that will utilize these cavities.
We present a Michelson-Morley type experiment for testing the isotropy of the speed of light in vacuum and matter. The experiment compares the resonance frequency of an actively rotated monolithic optical cryogenic sapphire resonator against the resonance frequency of a stationary evacuated optical cavity made of ultra-low-expansion glass. The results yield an upper limit for the anisotropy of the speed of light in matter (sapphire) of Delta(c)/c < 1 x 10^-16, limited by the frequency stability of the sapphire resonator.
The thermal fluctuation of mirror surfaces is the fundamental limitation for interferometric gravitational wave (GW) detectors. Here, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time a reduction in a mirror's thermal fluctuation in a GW detector with sapphire mirrors from the Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory at 17\,K and 18\,K. The detector sensitivity, which was limited by the mirror's thermal fluctuation at room temperature, was improved in the frequency range of 90\,Hz to 240\,Hz by cooling the mirrors. The improved sensitivity reached a maximum of $2.2 \times 10^{-19}\,\textrm{m}…
In-vacuo cryogenic environments are ideal for applications requiring both low temperatures and extremely low particle densities. This enables reaching long storage and coherence times for example in ion traps, essential requirements for experiments with highly charged ions, quantum computation, and optical clocks. We have developed a novel cryostat continuously refrigerated with a pulse-tube cryocooler and providing the lowest vibration level reported for such a closed-cycle system with 1 W cooling power for a <5 K experiment. A decoupling system suppresses vibrations from the cryocooler by th…
Exploring Low Energy Excess in MINER with sapphire detectors using Convolutional Variational Autoencoder (CVAE)
National Institute of Science Education and Research（印度科学教育研究所）；Homi Bhabha National Institute（霍米·巴巴国立研究所）；Texas A&M University（德克萨斯农工大学）；Sam Houston State University（山姆休斯顿州立大学）；SNOLAB（SNOLAB实验室）
We present first results from a number of experiments conducted on a 0.53 kg cylindrical dumbbell-shaped sapphire crystal. This is the first reported optomechanical experiment of this nature utilising a novel modification to the typical cylindrical architecture. Mechanical motion of the crystal structure alters the dimensions of the crystal, and the induced strain changes the permittivity. These two effects result in parametric frequency modulation of resonant microwave whispering gallery modes that are simultaneously excited within the crystal. A novel low-noise microwave readout system is im…
Pulse-tube based dilution refrigerators are massively employed in low temperature physics. They allow to reduce the running costs and to be operated with unprecedented easiness. However, the main drawback of this technology is the mechanical vibrations induced by the pulse-tube cryocooler. These perturbations can cause extra-noises drastically affecting the detector performance. In this paper, we propose a solution to mitigate the impact of these vibrations by mounting the detectors in an elastic-pendulum based suspended tower. Based on vibration modeling and experimental tests, we show that t…
We studied noise properties of microwave signals transmitted through the cryogenic resonator. The experiments were performed with the 11.342 GHz sapphire loaded cavity resonator cooled to 6.2 K. Based on the measured transmission coefficient of the cryogenic resonator we computed its noise suppression function. This was done via Monte-Carlo simulations some details of which are discussed in this Letter. Next, we measured technical fluctuations of a signal incident on the cryogenic resonator. Having processed these data with the previously computed noise filtering "template" we inferred noise s…
Direct stroke measurement of Piezos for cavity frequency tuner of the ILC prototype cryomodule using a Laser Displacement Sensor
High Energy Accelerator Research Organization（高能加速器研究机构）；The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Department of Accelerator Science, School of High Energy Accelerator Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK)（高级研究院高能加速器科学学部加速器科学系）
In the early stages of running of the CRESST dark matter search using sapphire detectors at very low temperature, an unexpectedly high rate of signal pulses appeared. Their origin was finally traced to fracture events in the sapphire due to the very tight clamping of the detectors. During extensive runs the energy and time of each event was recorded, providing large data sets for such phenomena. We believe this is the first time the energy release in fracture has been directly and accurately measured on a microscopic event-by-event basis. The energy threshold corresponds to the breaking of onl…
A conduction-cooled superconducting magnet producing a transverse field of 4 Tesla has been designed for the new generation multi-field coupling measurement system, which was used to study the mechanical behavior of superconducting samples at cryogenic temperature and intense magnetic fields. Considering experimental costs and coordinating with system of strain measurements by contactless signals (nonlinear CCD optics system), the racetrack type for the coil winding was chosen in our design, and a compact cryostat with a two-stage GM cryocooler was designed and manufactured for the superconduc…
The zero-field Fe3+:sapphire whispering-gallery-mode maser oscillator exhibits several alluring features: Its output is many orders of magnitude brighter than that of an active hydrogen maser and thus far less degraded by spontaneous-emission (Schawlow-Townes) and/or receiving-amplifier noise. Its oscillator loop is confined to a piece of mono-crystalline rock bolted into a metal can. Its quiet amplification combined with high resonator Q provide the ingredients for exceptionally low phase noise. We here concentrate on novelties addressing the fundamental conundrums and technical challenges th…
KAGRA is the first km-scale gravitational wave detector to be constructed underground and employ cryogenics to cool down its test masses. While the underground location provides a quiet site with low seismic noise, the cooling infrastructure is known to generate large mechanical vibrations due to cryocooler operation and structural resonances of the cryostat. As cooling system components are relatively heavy and in close proximity to the test masses, oscillation of gravity force induced by their vibration, so-called Newtonian noise, could contaminate the detector sensitivity. In this paper, we…
In this paper we report on the implementation and stability analysis of a drift-compensated frequency synthesizer from a cryogenic sapphire oscillator (CSO) designed for a Cs/Rb atomic fountain clock. The synthesizer has two microwave outputs of 7 GHz and 9 GHz for Rb and Cs atom interrogation, respectively. The short-term stability of these microwave signals, measured using an optical frequency comb locked to an ultra-stable laser, is better than $5\times10^{-15}$ at an averaging time of 1 s. We demonstrate that the short-term stability of the synthesizer is lower than the quantum projection …
A microwave SQUID multiplexing concept for macro-cryogenic calorimeter arrays
Università di Milano-Bicocca（米兰比可卡大学）；INFN, Sezione di Milano-Bicocca（意大利国家核物理研究所米兰比可卡分部）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）；University of Colorado（科罗拉多大学）
KAGRA is a second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detector with 3-km arms constructed at Kamioka, Gifu in Japan. It is now in its final installation phase, which we call bKAGRA (baseline KAGRA), with scientific observations expected to begin in late 2019. One of the advantages of KAGRA is its underground location of at least 200 m below the ground surface, which brings small seismic motion at low frequencies and high stability of the detector. Another advantage is that it cools down the sapphire test mass mirrors to cryogenic temperatures to reduce thermal noise. In April-May 201…
