Probe light-shift elimination in generalized hyper-Ramsey quantum clocks

We present an interrogation scheme for the next generation of quantum clocks to suppress frequency shifts induced by laser probing fields that are themselves based on generalized hyper-Ramsey resonances. Sequences of composite laser pulses with a specific selection of phases, frequency detunings, and durations are combined to generate a very efficient and robust frequency locking signal with an almost perfect elimination of the light shift from off-resonant states and to decouple the unperturbed frequency measurement from the laser's intensity. The frequency lock point generated from synthesized error signals using either pi/4 or 3 pi/4 laser phase steps during the intermediate pulse is tightly protected against large laser-pulse area variations and errors in potentially applied frequency shift compensations. Quantum clocks based on weakly allowed or completely forbidden optical transitions in atoms, ions, molecules, and nuclei will benefit from these hyperstable laser frequency stabilization schemes to reach relative accuracies below the 10(-18) level.