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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Microwave-Optical Double Resonance on a Single Laser-Cooled 171 Yb + Ion

V. Enders, Ph. W. Courteille, R. Huesmann, L. S Ma, Werner Neuhauser, R. Blatt, P. E. Toschek

Published Nov 10, 1993• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A single ion whose energy levels are hyperfine split, 171 Yb + , was electrodynamically trapped and laser cooled. The residual energy of both its driven motion and its secular motion was 11 μeV. Radiofrequency-optical double-resonance excitation yields spectra whose 40 Hz wide lines are determined so far by the duration of the ion's interaction with the 12.6 GHz radiation. These results prove that a microwave clock is feasible with its fractional systematic uncertainty not exceeding 10 −16 .

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/24/5/002

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The 435 mum171Yb+transition is a good candidate for an atomic clock based on an optical transition. We have stored single171Yb ions for several months in RF traps. The ions are cooled, repumped and the clock transition is interrogated by (frequency-doubled) diode lasers. The interrogation laser linewidth was 30 Hz determining the resolvable linewidth of the Yb+transition interrogated. The absolute frequency of this transition was measured using an optical comb generator, self referenced by broadening the spectrum to above one octave, with respect to a Cs fountain clock. Of all systematic frequency shifts to which this transition is subject an estimate indicates that the electric quadruple shift appears is the largest. To obtain a magnitude of the quadruple shift (and the quadruple moment) the clock frequencies of two independently stored and cooled171Yb ions were compared while varying the static electric field in one trap. The measured frequency shift amounting to ~1 Hz/V. This result would seem to permit clocks with much higher accuracy than the clocks based on microwave transition, particularly if the technique of aligning the ions with respect to the electric field were applicable. Anticipating even more precise clocks, we are presently investigating a blue nuclear transition in229Th. Such a nuclear transition should be even better shielded from environmental influences than transitions in the electron shell. This nuclear transition has not yet been directly optically observed. We are presently investigating the luminescence after incoherent broad band optical excitation. The triply ionized223Th is then a suitable system for trapped single ion spectroscopy. The cooling transition lies conveniently in the near infrared and the nuclear clock transition can be read out by nuclear/electron shell double resonance

CAOL . International Conference on Advanced Optoelectronics and Lasers•Jul 8, 2004•1 citation
A single ion whose energy levels are hyperfine split, 171 Yb + , was electrodynamically trapped and laser cooled. The residual energy of both its driven motion and its secular motion was 11 μeV. Radiofrequency-optical double-resonance excitation yields spectra whose 40 Hz wide lines are determined so far by the duration of the ion's interaction with the 12.6 GHz radiation. These results prove that a microwave clock is feasible with its fractional systematic uncertainty not exceeding 10 −16 .
The ground-state hyperfine transitions of trapped clouds of 9Be+, 201Hg+, and 171Yb ions have been made control microwave oscillators.1-5 The frequency stability of these atomic clocks exceeds that of a primary Cs frequency standard in the short-term regime and that of a hydrogen maser for long times. Systematic perturbations derive from the members of the cloud being placed in an inhomogeneous field and showing residual motion. A single cold ion kept in the field node of an electrodynamic trap lacks these perturbations. The precise control of a standard frequency requires a narrow and weak transition whose resonance can be hardly detected by observation of the fluorescence on this line.
A laser optical-pumping, double-resonance experiment was performed on electrodynamically confined 171Yb+^{171}\mathrm{Yb}^{+}171Yb+ ions. The ground-state hyperfine splitting has been determined to be $\ensuremath{\Delta}{W}_{\mathrm{h}\mathrm{f}\mathrm{s}}=12642812124.2\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.4$ Hz. The ultimate linewidth obtained in this experiment was 60 mHz, corresponding to a line QQQ of 0.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1012{10}^{12}1012. It was limited by the stability of the available frequency reference.
We present a transportable laser-cooled ion microwave clock based on the ground-state hyperfine splitting of 171 Yb + . The system achieves a systematic uncertainty of 7.8×10 −15 and a short-term frequency stability of 9.5×10 −13 / τ . Enhancements to the magnetic-field system suppress the decoherence process in the multi-body ion ensemble and reduce the second-order Zeeman frequency shift by a factor of two. The absolute microwave frequency is measured to be 12 642 812 118.468 6(3) Hz, consistent with the previous measurements and demonstrating twice the precision of the current state-of-the-art.
The authors report preliminary results of precision microwave-optical double resonance spectroscopy on buffer gas cooled /sup 171/Yb/sup +/ ions confined in a linear Paul trap as a microwave frequency standard at 12.6 GHz. They also report laser cooling of trapped /sup 171/Yb/sup +/ ions. Temperatures below 1 K have been achieved, and evidence for a phase transition to a crystal-like state has been found. This temperature is sufficiently low to reduce the fractional second-order Doppler shift of the microwave resonance to below 10/sup -14/.>
The 435 mum171Yb+transition is a good candidate for an atomic clock based on an optical transition. We have stored single171Yb ions for several months in RF traps. The ions are cooled, repumped and the clock transition is interrogated by (frequency-doubled) diode lasers. The interrogation laser linewidth was 30 Hz determining the resolvable linewidth of the Yb+transition interrogated. The absolute frequency of this transition was measured using an optical comb generator, self referenced by broadening the spectrum to above one octave, with respect to a Cs fountain clock. Of all systematic frequency shifts to which this transition is subject an estimate indicates that the electric quadruple shift appears is the largest. To obtain a magnitude of the quadruple shift (and the quadruple moment) the clock frequencies of two independently stored and cooled171Yb ions were compared while varying the static electric field in one trap. The measured frequency shift amounting to ~1 Hz/V. This result would seem to permit clocks with much higher accuracy than the clocks based on microwave transition, particularly if the technique of aligning the ions with respect to the electric field were applicable. Anticipating even more precise clocks, we are presently investigating a blue nuclear transition in229Th. Such a nuclear transition should be even better shielded from environmental influences than transitions in the electron shell. This nuclear transition has not yet been directly optically observed. We are presently investigating the luminescence after incoherent broad band optical excitation. The triply ionized223Th is then a suitable system for trapped single ion spectroscopy. The cooling transition lies conveniently in the near infrared and the nuclear clock transition can be read out by nuclear/electron shell double resonance