Cavity-enhanced non-destructive detection of atoms for an optical lattice clock

Abstract: We demonstrate a new method of cavity-enhanced non-destructive detection of atoms for a strontium optical lattice clock. The detection scheme is shown to be linear in atom number up to at least 10,000 atoms, to reject technical noise sources, to achieve signal to noise ratio close to the photon shot noise limit, to provide spatially uniform atom-cavity coupling, and to minimize inhomogeneous ac Stark shifts. These features enable detection of atoms with minimal perturbation to the atomic state, a critical step towards realizing an ultra-high-stability, quantum-enhanced optical lattice clock.