PM: Quantum-Enabled Spectroscopy of Highly Charged Metal Ions as a Search for New Physics at the Low-Energy, High-Precision Frontier

在这个项目中，将开展一项实验，对捕获的高电荷态离子进行高精度激光光谱分析，目的是在低能量下测试基本物理。高电荷态离子(其中几个电子已被移走的原子)是对基本常数可能随时间变化最敏感的系统之一。这种高灵敏度与激光可访问的跃迁相结合，使它们成为研究粒子物理标准模型的预测扩展的独特平台。该项目将专注于开发一种基于捕获的高电荷态离子的光学原子钟。这项实验将把基于离子陷阱的量子计算和光学频率标准开发的技术与高电荷离子的紧凑源相结合。这项工作包括在实验原子、分子和光学物理、光学频率计量学和精密测量领域对学生进行培训。这项实验工作将与理论基本粒子物理学界的研究人员密切合作进行。与单电荷离子和中性原子相比，高电荷态离子中的几个光学跃迁既提供了对精细结构常数(α)可能随时间变化的更高的灵敏度，也提供了良好的系统学作为光学时钟。利用量子光谱技术，研究小组的目标是开发一种基于高电荷态离子窄线宽跃迁的光学原子钟。一个高度带电的离子光学钟，其系统不确定度分数在十分之一到十八分之一的水平上，可能会使目前实验室对阿尔法时间变化的限制提高一百倍。无论是改进的阿尔法恒定极限，还是阿尔法随时间变化的非零信号，都可以用来约束超越标准粒子物理模型的物理学。这项实验工作的结果将在标准模型的理论扩展的背景下进行分析，该模型提出了新的暗物质候选者和耦合，将导致观测到α随时间变化的非零值。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

For this project, an experiment will be developed to perform high-precision laser spectroscopy of trapped highly charged ions for the purpose of testing fundamental physics at low energy. Highly charged ions (atoms in which several electrons have been removed) are among the most sensitive systems to a possible time-variation of the fundamental constants. This high sensitivity, combined with laser-accessible transitions, makes them a unique platform for investigating predicted extensions to the standard model of particle physics. This project will focus on the development of an optical atomic clock based on trapped highly charged ions. The experiment will combine techniques that have been developed for ion trap-based quantum computing and optical frequency standards with a compact source of highly charged ions. This work includes the training of students in the fields of experimental atomic, molecular, and optical physics, optical frequency metrology, and precision measurements. The experimental work will be performed in close collaboration with researchers from the theoretical elementary particle physics community.Several optical transitions in highly charged ions provide both an enhanced sensitivity to possible time-variation of the fine-structure constant (alpha) and favorable systematics as optical clocks when compared to singly charged ions and neutral atoms. Using quantum-enabled spectroscopy techniques, the research team aims to develop an optical atomic clock based on narrow linewidth transitions in highly charged ions. A highly charged ion optical clock with a fractional systematic uncertainty at the level of one part in ten to the eighteen could lead to a factor of one hundred improvement in the current laboratory limit on time-variation of alpha. Either an improved limit on the constancy of alpha or a non-zero signal of the time-variation of alpha could be used to constrain physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. Results from this experimental work will be analyzed in the context of theoretical extensions to the standard model that propose new dark matter candidates and couplings that would lead to the observation of a non-zero value of the time-variation of alpha.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.