We describe recent developments in the operation of an optical atomic clock at unprecedentedly
high atomic densities. Frequency measurements are performed primarily on a band-insulating quantum degenerate Fermi-gas of neutral strontium-87 loaded into a three-dimensional optical lattice with a simple
cubic geometry. Rapid production of such quantum states of matter are enabled by novel techniques in
neutral atom cooling and trapping while precise frequency measurements rely on both state-of-the-art
optical reference cavities and imaging techniques which significantly suppress residual laser phase noise.
The observed frequency shifts about the mHz-wide clock transition are attributable to various manybody
interactions involving Fermi-Hubbard physics and long-range interactions between electric dipoles.
Using accurate models of the observed phenomena, we anticipate both challenging systematic effects and
novel opportunities to generate spin-squeezed states in future generations of atomic clocks operating at
similarly high atomic densities.
We describe recent developments in the operation of an optical atomic clock at unprecedentedly
high atomic densities. Frequency measurements are performed primarily on a band-insulating quantum degenerate Fermi-gas of neutral strontium-87 loaded into a three-dimensional optical lattice with a simple
cubic geometry. Rapid production of such quantum states of matter are enabled by novel techniques in
neutral atom cooling and trapping while precise frequency measurements rely on both state-of-the-art
optical reference cavities and imaging techniques which significantly suppress residual laser phase noise.
The observed frequency shifts about the mHz-wide clock transition are attributable to various manybody
interactions involving Fermi-Hubbard physics and long-range interactions between electric dipoles.
Using accurate models of the observed phenomena, we anticipate both challenging systematic effects and
novel opportunities to generate spin-squeezed states in future generations of atomic clocks operating at
similarly high atomic densities.