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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 1: Precision spectroscopy of atoms and ions I (with Q)
A 1.5: Talk
Monday, March 23, 2015, 12:30–12:45, C/HSW
Cold highly charged ions for novel optical clocks and the search for α variation — •Lisa Schmöger1,2, Oscar O. Versolato1,2, Maria Schwarz1,2, Matthias Kohnen2, Tobias Leopold2, Stefanie Feuchtenbeiner1, Baptist Piest1, Alexander Windberger1, Joachim Ullrich2, Piet O. Schmidt2,3, and José R. Crespo López-Urrutia1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik — 2Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt — 3Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover
Optical forbidden transitions in highly charged ions (HCIs) are both insensitive to external perturbations and extremely sensitive to possible drifts of the fine structure constant α. Thus, cold, strongly localized HCIs are of particular interest for the development of novel optical clocks and the search for a possible α variation. We have recently succeeded in the first preparation of Coulomb crystallized ultra-cold HCIs through sympathetic cooling in a cryogenic linear Paul trap. The ions (Ar13+) produced in and extracted from an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) are decelerated and pre-cooled by means of two serrated and interlaced pulsed drift tubes before they are injected into the Paul trap. Subsequently, they are forced to interact multiple times with a Coulomb crystal of laser-cooled Be+ ions before they lose enough energy to become implanted in it and thermalize close to the Be+ crystal temperature. We investigated various cooling configurations of large mixed-species crystals and fluids, over strings of few ions down to a single HCI cooled by a single Be+ ion - a prerequisite for future quantum logic spectroscopy at a potential 10−19 level accuracy.