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Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 150801 (2003) [4 pages]

Search for Variations of Fundamental Constants using Atomic Fountain Clocks

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H. Marion, F. Pereira Dos Santos, M. Abgrall, S. Zhang, Y. Sortais, S. Bize, I. Maksimovic, D. Calonico*, J. Grünert, C. Mandache†, P. Lemonde, G. Santarelli, Ph. Laurent, and A. Clairon
BNM-SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, 61 Avenue de l’Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France

C. Salomon
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, ENS, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France

Received 31 December 2002; published 18 April 2003

Over five years, we have compared the hyperfine frequencies of 133Cs and 87Rb atoms in their electronic ground state using several laser-cooled 133Cs and 87Rb atomic fountains with an accuracy of ∼10-15. These measurements set a stringent upper bound to a possible fractional time variation of the ratio between the two frequencies: d/dtln⁡[(νRb)/(νCs)]=(0.2±7.0)×10-16   yr-1 (1σ uncertainty). The same limit applies to a possible variation of the quantity (μRb/μCs)α-0.44, which involves the ratio of nuclear magnetic moments and the fine structure constant.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.150801
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.150801
PACS:
06.30.Ft, 06.20.–f, 06.20.Jr, 32.80.Pj

*Present address: Istituto Elettrotecnico Nazionale G. Ferraris, Strada delle Cacce 41, 10135 Torino, Italy.

†Present address: Institutul National de Fizica Laserilor, Plasmei si Radiatiei, P.O. Box MG36, Bucaresti, Magurele, Romania.

 
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