Radium Ion Optical Clock

C. A. Holliman, M. Fan, A. Contractor, S. M. Brewer, and A. M. Jayich
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 033202 – Published 20 January 2022
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Abstract

We report the first operation of a Ra+ optical clock, a promising high-performance clock candidate. The clock uses a single trapped Ra+226 ion and operates on the 7sS1/226dD5/22 electric quadrupole transition. By self-referencing three pairs of symmetric Zeeman transitions, we demonstrate a frequency instability of 1.1×1013/τ, where τ is the averaging time in seconds. The total systematic uncertainty is evaluated to be Δν/ν=9×1016. Using the clock, we realize the first measurement of the ratio of the D5/2 state to the S1/2 state Landé g-factors: gD/gS=0.5988053(11). A Ra+ optical clock could improve limits on the time variation of the fine structure constant, α˙/α, in an optical frequency comparison. The ion also has several features that make it a suitable system for a transportable optical clock.

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  • Received 6 October 2021
  • Accepted 15 December 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.033202

© 2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

C. A. Holliman1, M. Fan1, A. Contractor1, S. M. Brewer2, and A. M. Jayich1,*

  • 1Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA

  • *jayich@gmail.com

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Issue

Vol. 128, Iss. 3 — 21 January 2022

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