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arXiv:2107.11229

Lifetime of the $^2F_{7/2}$ level in Yb$^+$ for spontaneous emission of electric octupole radiation

R. Lange, A. A. Peshkov, Nils Huntemann, Chr. Tamm, A. Surzhykov, E. Peik

Published Jul 23, 2021• 2 citations
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Abstract

We report a measurement of the radiative lifetime of the ^{2}F_{7/2} level of ^{171}Yb^{+} that is coupled to the ^{2}S_{1/2} ground state via an electric octupole transition. The radiative lifetime is determined to be 4.98(25)×10^{7} s, corresponding to 1.58(8) yr. The result reduces the relative uncertainty in this exceptionally long excited state lifetime by 1 order of magnitude with respect to previous experimental estimates. Our method is based on the coherent excitation of the corresponding transition and avoids limitations through competing decay processes. The explicit dependence on the laser intensity is eliminated by simultaneously measuring the resonant Rabi frequency and the induced quadratic Stark shift. Combining the result with information on the dynamic differential polarizability permits a calculation of the transition matrix element to infer the radiative lifetime.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2107.11229

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Lifetime of the 2F7/2^2F_{7/2}2F7/2​ level in Yb+^++ for spontaneous emission of electric octupole radiation
We report a measurement of the radiative lifetime of the ^{2}F_{7/2} level of ^{171}Yb^{+} that is coupled to the ^{2}S_{1/2} ground state via an electric octupole transition. The radiative lifetime is determined to be 4.98(25)×10^{7} s, corresponding to 1.58(8) yr. The result reduces the relative uncertainty in this exceptionally long excited state lifetime by 1 order of magnitude with respect to previous experimental estimates. Our method is based on the coherent excitation of the corresponding transition and avoids limitations through competing decay processes. The explicit dependence on the laser intensity is eliminated by simultaneously measuring the resonant Rabi frequency and the induced quadratic Stark shift. Combining the result with information on the dynamic differential polarizability permits a calculation of the transition matrix element to infer the radiative lifetime.
We report a measurement of the radiative lifetime of the 2F7/2^{2}{F}_{7/2}2F7/2​ level of 171Yb+^{171}{\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}171Yb+ that is coupled to the 2S1/2^{2}{S}_{1/2}2S1/2​ ground state via an electric octupole transition. The radiative lifetime is determined to be $4.98(25)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{s}$, corresponding to 1.58(8) yr. The result reduces the relative uncertainty in this exceptionally long excited state lifetime by 1 order of magnitude with respect to previous experimental estimates. Our method is based on the coherent excitation of the corresponding transition and avoids limitations through competing decay processes. The explicit dependence on the laser intensity is eliminated by simultaneously measuring the resonant Rabi frequency and the induced quadratic Stark shift. Combining the result with information on the dynamic differential polarizability permits a calculation of the transition matrix element to infer the radiative lifetime.
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Spectroscopy has been performed on $\mathrm{the}{}^{2}{S}_{1/2}(F=0,{m}_{F}{=0)\ensuremath{-}}^{2}{F}_{7/2}{(F=3,m}_{F}=0)$ electric octupole transition in 171Yb+{}^{171}{\mathrm{Yb}}^{+}171Yb+ with kilohertz resolution. A quantum jump rate of more than one per second has been achieved, a factor of 100 improvement on previous work. Spectra including the sidebands at the trap secular frequency show the ion to be in the Lambe-Dicke regime and hence the Doppler effect has been eliminated to first order. The dynamic Stark shift is a significant perturbation to the frequency because of the high intensity required to drive the octupole transition. It has been measured as ${42}_{\ensuremath{-}10}^{+12} \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{Hz}{\mathrm{W}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ and with further reduction in the probe laser linewidth, it should be possible to reduce the relative uncertainty in this shift to the parts in 1018{10}^{18}1018 level. The transition is free from the Zeeman effect to first order and has a measured second-order shift of $1.9(3) \mathrm{mHz}(\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{T}{)}^{\ensuremath{-}2}.$ It should be possible to reduce the relative uncertainty in this shift to below the part in 1018{10}^{18}1018 level. The electric quadrupole shift may be the limiting systematic effect, but cannot yet be observed with the current resolution on the transition.
We report the coherent excitation of the highly forbidden ^{2}S_{1/2}→^{2}F_{7/2} clock transition in the odd isotope ^{173}Yb^{+} with nuclear spin I=5/2, and reveal the hyperfine-state-dependent, nuclear-spin-induced quenching of this transition. The inferred lifetime of the F_{e}=4 hyperfine state is one order of magnitude shorter than the unperturbed ^{2}F_{7/2} clock state of ^{171}Yb^{+}. This reduced lifetime lowers the required optical power for coherent excitation of the clock transition, thereby reducing the ac Stark shift caused by the clock laser. Using a three-ion Coulomb crystal, we experimentally demonstrate an approximately twentyfold suppression of the ac Stark shift, a critical improvement for the scalability of future multi-ion Yb^{+} clocks. Furthermore, we report the |^{2}S_{1/2},F_{g}=3⟩→|^{2}F_{7/2},F_{e}=6⟩ unquenched reference transition frequency as 642.11917656354(43) THz, along with the measured hyperfine splitting and calculated quadratic Zeeman sensitivities of the ^{2}F_{7/2} clock state. Our results pave the way toward multi-ion optical clocks and quantum computers based on ^{173}Yb^{+}.