Coherent laser spectroscopy of highly charged ions using quantum logic

verfasst von: Peter Micke, Tobias Leopold, Steven A. King, Erik Benkler, L. J. Spieß, Lisa Schmöger, Maria Schwarz, José R. Crespo López-Urrutia, Piet O. Schmidt
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 model^2–5 and the realization of high-accuracy atomic clocks^3,5, 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 far^6–8. 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 spectroscopy^9,10 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.
Organisationseinheit(en): Institut für Quantenoptik
QuantumFrontiers
SFB 1227: Designte Quantenzustände der Materie (DQ-mat)
Externe Organisation(en): Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Typ: Artikel
Journal: NATURE
Band: 578
Seiten: 60-65
Anzahl der Seiten: 6
ISSN: 0028-0836
Publikationsdatum: 06.02.2020
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed: Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Allgemein
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2010.15984 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1959-8 (Zugang: Geschlossen)

BibTeX

@article{192a44f6a05b4c10a0c59b0e9ec75f11,
title = "Coherent laser spectroscopy of highly charged ions using quantum logic",
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.",
author = "Peter Micke and Tobias Leopold and King, {Steven A.} and Erik Benkler and Spie{\ss}, {L. J.} and Lisa Schm{\"o}ger and Maria Schwarz and {Crespo L{\'o}pez-Urrutia}, {Jos{\'e} R.} and Schmidt, {Piet O.}",
note = "Acknowledgements We acknowledge I. Arapoglou, H. Bekker, S. Bernitt, K. Blaum, A. Egl, S. Hannig, S. K{\"u}hn, T. Legero, R. M{\"u}ller, 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{\textquoteright}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{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project number 17FUN07 CC4C). S.A.K. acknowledges financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "6",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2010.15984",
language = "English",
volume = "578",
pages = "60--65",
journal = "NATURE",
issn = "0028-0836",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
}