Accelerating the development of novel clocks for measuring varying fundamental constants

QSNET++将加速完成(I)目前在伯明翰建造的基于高电荷态离子的时钟和(Ii)帝国理工学院正在开发的基于超冷分子的时钟。这两个时钟将是QSNET网络的一部分，该网络旨在测量基本常数的稳定性，以便探索标准模型以外的暗物质和其他物理理论。伯明翰的时钟是基于高电荷态的卡尔离子，预计将对精细结构常数具有世界领先的灵敏度。为了加速这个时钟的发展，我们将建立一个高电荷态离子的共鸣冷却装置。单电荷的钙离子将通过激光冷却到较低的温度，然后它们将通过库仑相互作用冷却高电荷的离子。帝国理工学院的时钟是基于捕获在由激光驻波形成的光学晶格中的一氟化钙分子。预计它对质子与电子的质量比具有世界领先的灵敏度。我们将开发一个超稳定的激光系统来驱动这些分子中的时钟跃迁，然后用它来研究时钟的精确度。

QSNET++ will accelerate the completion of (i) a clock based on highly-charged ions currently under construction in Birmingham and (ii) a clock based on ultracold molecules being developed at Imperial College. These two clocks will be part of the QSNET network that aims to measure the stability of fundamental constants in order to probe theories of dark matter and other physics beyond the standard model. The clock at Birmingham is based on highly-charged californium ions and is expected to have world-leading sensitivity to the fine-structure constant. To accelerate the development of this clock, we will build a setup for sympathetic cooling of the highly-charged ions. Singly-charged calcium ions will be cooled to low temperature by laser cooling, and they will then cool down the highly-charged ions through their Coulomb interactions. The clock at Imperial College is based on calcium monofluoride molecules trapped in an optical lattice formed by standing waves of laser light. It is expected to have world-leading sensitivity to the proton-to-electron mass ratio. We will develop an ultra-stable laser system to drive the clock transition in these molecules and then use it to study how accurate the clock can be.