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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

High resolution spectroscopy of a single trapped ion

Ch. Schwedes, Petrissa R. Eckle, M. Eichenseer, Alexander Yu. Nevsky, Joachim von Zanthier, HERBERT WALTHER

Published Jan 1, 2003• 0 citations

Abstract

Excitation of the /sup 3/P/sub 0 /state is detected in optical-optical double resonance via the dark periods in the fluorescence on the fast /sup 1/S/sub 0/ /sup 3/P/sub 1/ transition. The dye laser formerly used to excite this line was recently replaced by a diode-based laser system: a grating stabilized diode at 922 nm, further frequency stabilized onto a Fabry-Perot interferometer, is seeded into a tapered amplifier. Subsequent frequency-quadrupling employing a periodically poled KTP and a BBO crystal, each placed in an external enhancement cavity, leads to the right frequency at 231 nm. For the /sup 1/S/sub 0/ /sup 3/P/sub 0/ transition a resolution of 1.3 /spl times/ 10/sup -13 /has been achieved so far, limited by the frequency instability of the Nd:YAG laser. The short-term frequency stability of this laser has been strongly improved recently. With a new laser setup a linewidth < 5 Hz (FWHM) for integration times /spl times/30 s has been achieved using active vibration isolation platforms for the reference cavity. Recent progress of that work is reported.

DOI: 10.1109/eqec.2003.1314099

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We are investigating the 5s/sup 21/S/sub 0//spl rarr/5s5p/sup 3/P/sub 0/ transition of a single trapped laser-cooled /sup 115/In/sup +/ ion as a possible optical frequency standard. This line with a natural linewidth of only 1.1 Hz, corresponding to a Q factor of 1.2/spl middot/10/sup 15/, is highly immune to systematic frequency shifts due to external perturbations. For sideband laser cooling and fluorescence detection of the indium ion the 5s/sup 21/S/sub 0//spl rarr/5s5p/sup 3/P/sub 1/ transition at 230.6 nm is excited. Temperatures below 100 /spl mu/K and a mean vibrational quantum number<1 of the ion in the trap have been reached. For the clock transition a resolution of 3/spl middot/10/sup -13/ (linewidth 350 Hz) has been obtained so far, limited by the laser linewidth. The absolute frequency of the /sup 1/S/sub 0//spl rarr//sup 3/P/sub 0/ transition was measured by making a link to known reference frequencies of molecular iodine and methane using a frequency chain.

A single laser cooled ion in a radiofrequency trap can serve as the basis for a highly stable optical frequency standard. We present recent results of our work on single indium ions, using the /sup 1/S/sub 0/ to /sup 3/P/sub 0/ transition at 236.5 nm wave-length as the clock transition. This resonance has a linewidth of only 0.82 Hz where systematic shifts should be controllable on the mHz level. A single In/sup +/ ion is stored in a miniature Paul-Straubel trap and laser cooled to a temperature of about 100 /spl mu/K. The clock transition is excited using a frequency quadrupled Nd:YAG laser. A fractional resolution of 1.3/spl middot/10/sup -13/ has been achieved so far (linewidth of 170 Hz at 1267 THz). The absolute frequency of the clock transition clock transition has been measured with an uncertainty of 2/spl middot/10/sup -13/ using a frequency chain and a methane-stabilized HeNe laser as a reference, that was calibrated with a cesium clock.

Single ions trapped and laser cooled provide ideal objects for high resolution spectroscopy and frequency standards. For the latter purpose we are investigating the 5s2 1S0 → 5s5p 3P0 transition of In+. With a natural linewidth of only 1.1 Hz this resonance offers very high resolution and is highly immune to frequency shifts due to external electromagnetic fields, because it connects two levels with vanishing electronic magnetic momenta [1]. The wavelength of this clock transition is 236.5 nm and is technically very convenient, since it coincides with the fourth harmonic of the 946 nm Nd:YAG laser line. So this intrinsically frequency stable solid-state laser can be used to excite the transition [2]. For laser cooling and fluorescence detection of the indium ion the 5s2 1So -> 5s5p 3P1 transition at 230.6 nm can be employed. The use of the relatively narrow intercombination line for laser cooling allows us to study optical sideband cooling in the strong binding regime, where the oscillation frequencies of the ion in the trap (around 1 MHz) are larger than the optical linewidth of 360 kHz. In this parameter range laser cooling is possible to the quantum ground state of the vibrational motion in the trap corresponding to a temperature of roughly 100 μK. The same low temperature was obtained with sideband cooling of a small Coulomb crystal consisting of two ions, creating an interesting new quantum few-particle system.

We describe experimental investigations of an optical frequency standard based on a single laser-cooled /sup 171/Yb/sup +/ ion confined in a radiofrequency Paul trap. The electric quadrupole transition from the /sup 2/S/sub 1/2 /(F=0) ground state to the /sup 2/D/sub 3/2/(F=2) state at 435.5 nm is used as the reference transition. The transition was resolved with a Fourier-limited width of approximately 30 Hz. In order to investigate the instability and accuracy of a future frequency standard based on the reference transition, a first experiment was done comparing two laser frequencies stabilized individually to two separate ions in different traps. As a result we found a relative frequency instability /spl sigma//sub y/(640 s)=1.5/spl middot/10/sup -15/ for the difference of the two laser frequencies. We also derived a first estimate /spl Theta/(/sup 2/D/sub 3/2/)=(3.9/spl plusmn/1.9)ea/sub 0//sup 2/ for the electric quadrupole moment of the /sup 2/D/sub 3/2/ state.