Towards a High-Performance Optical Clock Based on Single 171-Yb Ion

With the development of optical frequency comb and ultra-stable laser techniques, the performance of optical frequency standards has been improved significantly over the past decades. Single charged Yb ions have an alkali-like atomic structure and have ultra-long storage time. And the ytterbium single-ion optical frequency standards have two clock transitions (E2 & E3). In this paper, we will introduce the progress in the development of a highly accurate optical frequency standard based on single ytterbium-171 ion at the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China.