Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

The magnetic moment anomaly of the electron bound in hydrogen-like oxygen16O7

J Verd, Thomas Beier, S Djeki, H H ffner, H-J Kluge, W. Quint, T. Valenzuela, Manuel Vogel, Günther Werth

Published Jan 24, 2003• 13 citations

Abstract

The measurement of the g -factor of the electron bound in a hydrogen-like ion is a high-accuracy test of the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in strong fields. Here we report on the measurement of the g -factor of the bound electron in hydrogen-like oxygen ( 16 O 7+ ). In our experiment a single highly charged ion is stored in a Penning trap. The electronic spin state of the ion is monitored via the continuous Stern–Gerlach effect in a quantum non-demolition measurement. Quantum jumps between the two spin states (spin up and spin down ) are induced by a microwave field at the spin precession frequency of the bound electron. The g -factor of the bound electron is obtained by varying the microwave frequency and counting the number of spin flips. The comparison of our experimental values for the g -factor of the bound electron with the theoretical values shows excellent agreement and confirms the recent non-perturbative QED calculations.

DOI: 10.1088/0953-4075/36/3/322

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