Synchronous Comparison of Two Thulium Optical Clocks

The experimental comparison of two thulium optical lattice clocks in a time interval of up to one hour has been carried out. The synchronous comparison of a clock transition in two independent atomic ensembles using a single ultrastable laser has allowed us to eliminate fluctuations of the laser frequency from the measured frequency difference and to reach a relative measurement error of ${10}^{-16}$ after 500-s averaging, which corresponds to a relative instability of $2\times {10}^{-15}\mathrm{/}\sqrt{\tau }$. The successful demonstration of the long-term operation of two systems using the synchronous comparison of clock transitions opens the possibility of studying systematic shifts in thulium optical clocks with an uncertainty of ${10}^{-17}$.