Subrecoil Clock-Transition Laser Cooling Enabling Shallow Optical Lattice Clocks

Laser cooling is a key ingredient for quantum control of atomic systems in a variety of settings. In divalent atoms, two-stage Doppler cooling is typically used to bring atoms to the μK regime. Here, we implement a pulsed radial cooling scheme using the ultranarrow ^1S₀-^3P₀ clock transition in ytterbium to realize subrecoil temperatures, down to tens of nK. Together with sideband cooling along the one-dimensional lattice axis, we efficiently prepare atoms in shallow lattices at an energy of 6 lattice recoils. Under these conditions key limits on lattice clock accuracy and instability are reduced, opening the door to dramatic improvements. Furthermore, tunneling shifts in the shallow lattice do not compromise clock accuracy at the 10^-19 level.