Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 60-65 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | NATURE |
| Volume | 578 |
| Early online date | 29 Jan 2020 |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Feb 2020 |
Abstract
Precision spectroscopy of atomic systems1 is an invaluable tool for the study of fundamental interactions and symmetries2. Recently, highly charged ions have been proposed to enable sensitive tests of physics beyond the standard model2–5 and the realization of high-accuracy atomic clocks3,5, owing to their high sensitivity to fundamental physics and insensitivity to external perturbations, which result from the high binding energies of their outer electrons. However, the implementation of these ideas has been hindered by the low spectroscopic accuracies (of the order of parts per million) achieved so far6–8. Here we cool trapped, highly charged argon ions to the lowest temperature reported so far, and study them using coherent laser spectroscopy, achieving an increase in precision of eight orders of magnitude. We use quantum logic spectroscopy9,10 to probe the forbidden optical transition in 40Ar13+ at a wavelength of 441 nanometres and measure its excited-state lifetime and g-factor. Our work unlocks the potential of highly charged ions as ubiquitous atomic systems for use in quantum information processing, as frequency standards and in highly sensitive tests of fundamental physics, such as searches for dark-matter candidates11 or violations of fundamental symmetries2.
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In: NATURE, Vol. 578, 06.02.2020, p. 60-65.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Coherent laser spectroscopy of highly charged ions using quantum logic
AU - Micke, Peter
AU - Leopold, Tobias
AU - King, Steven A.
AU - Benkler, Erik
AU - Spieß, L. J.
AU - Schmöger, Lisa
AU - Schwarz, Maria
AU - Crespo López-Urrutia, José R.
AU - Schmidt, Piet O.
N1 - Acknowledgements We acknowledge I. Arapoglou, H. Bekker, S. Bernitt, K. Blaum, A. Egl, S. Hannig, S. Kühn, T. Legero, R. Müller, J. Nauta, J. Stark, U. Sterr, S. Sturm and A. Surzhykov for support and discussions. We also thank the MPIK engineering design office, the electronics workshops of QUEST and MPIK, IMPT Hannover, and PTB division 4 for support and technical help. In particular, we thank the mechanical workshop of MPIK and the scientific instrumentation department (5.5) of PTB for their skilful and timely manufacturing of our devices. The project was supported by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, the Max- Planck Society, the Max-Planck–Riken–PTB–Center for Time, Constants and Fundamental Symmetries, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through SCHM2678/5-1, the collaborative research centres SFB 1225 ISOQUANT and SFB 1227 DQ-mat, and Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC-2123/1 QuantumFrontiers. This project also received funding from the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR), which is co-financed by the Participating States, and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project number 17FUN07 CC4C). S.A.K. acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
PY - 2020/2/6
Y1 - 2020/2/6
N2 - Precision spectroscopy of atomic systems1 is an invaluable tool for the study of fundamental interactions and symmetries2. Recently, highly charged ions have been proposed to enable sensitive tests of physics beyond the standard model2–5 and the realization of high-accuracy atomic clocks3,5, owing to their high sensitivity to fundamental physics and insensitivity to external perturbations, which result from the high binding energies of their outer electrons. However, the implementation of these ideas has been hindered by the low spectroscopic accuracies (of the order of parts per million) achieved so far6–8. Here we cool trapped, highly charged argon ions to the lowest temperature reported so far, and study them using coherent laser spectroscopy, achieving an increase in precision of eight orders of magnitude. We use quantum logic spectroscopy9,10 to probe the forbidden optical transition in 40Ar13+ at a wavelength of 441 nanometres and measure its excited-state lifetime and g-factor. Our work unlocks the potential of highly charged ions as ubiquitous atomic systems for use in quantum information processing, as frequency standards and in highly sensitive tests of fundamental physics, such as searches for dark-matter candidates11 or violations of fundamental symmetries2.
AB - Precision spectroscopy of atomic systems1 is an invaluable tool for the study of fundamental interactions and symmetries2. Recently, highly charged ions have been proposed to enable sensitive tests of physics beyond the standard model2–5 and the realization of high-accuracy atomic clocks3,5, owing to their high sensitivity to fundamental physics and insensitivity to external perturbations, which result from the high binding energies of their outer electrons. However, the implementation of these ideas has been hindered by the low spectroscopic accuracies (of the order of parts per million) achieved so far6–8. Here we cool trapped, highly charged argon ions to the lowest temperature reported so far, and study them using coherent laser spectroscopy, achieving an increase in precision of eight orders of magnitude. We use quantum logic spectroscopy9,10 to probe the forbidden optical transition in 40Ar13+ at a wavelength of 441 nanometres and measure its excited-state lifetime and g-factor. Our work unlocks the potential of highly charged ions as ubiquitous atomic systems for use in quantum information processing, as frequency standards and in highly sensitive tests of fundamental physics, such as searches for dark-matter candidates11 or violations of fundamental symmetries2.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078659552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2010.15984
DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2010.15984
M3 - Article
C2 - 31996851
AN - SCOPUS:85078659552
VL - 578
SP - 60
EP - 65
JO - NATURE
JF - NATURE
SN - 0028-0836
ER -