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High-Resolution Spectroscopy of $^{173}$Yb$^{+}$ Ions

Atomic Physics 2026-01-15 v1 High Energy Physics - Experiment Quantum Physics

Abstract

Compared to other stable isotopes of Yb+\rm{Yb}^+, 173Yb+^{173}\rm{Yb}^+ has a richer hyperfine structure, which leads to more favorable clock transitions, spectroscopic techniques for probing new physics, and more sophisticated quantum computing architectures. However, to date, its electronic spectrum remains poorly characterized. Here, we report on efficient laser cooling, state preparation, and detection of a single trapped 173Yb+^{173}\rm{Yb}^+ ion. The previously unobserved 2 ⁣S1/22 ⁣D3/2^2\!S_{1/2} \rightarrow {}^2\!D_{3/2} electric quadrupole transition at 436 nm is coherently excited, and the isotope shift between 171Yb+^{171}\rm{Yb}^+ and 173Yb+^{173}\rm{Yb}^+ on this transition is determined with an uncertainty of 1.4 Hz. Using microwave spectroscopy, we resolve the hyperfine structure (HFS) of the 2 ⁣D3/2{}^2\!D_{3/2} state with a relative uncertainty below 10810^{-8}. From the HFS measurement data, we infer for 173{}^{173}Yb a nuclear magnetic octupole moment Ω=0.062(8)(b×μN)\Omega = -0.062(8)\,({\rm b} \times \mu_N) with uncertainty reduced by more than 2 orders of magnitude compared to previous studies. The data also allow us to determine hyperfine anomalies for the 2 ⁣S1/2{}^2\!S_{1/2} and 2 ⁣D3/2{}^2\!D_{3/2} states.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.09585,
  title  = {High-Resolution Spectroscopy of $^{173}$Yb$^{+}$ Ions},
  author = {J. Jiang and A. V. Viatkina and Saaswath JK and M. Steinel and M. Filzinger and E. Peik and S. G. Porsev and M. S. Safronova and A. Surzyhkov and N. Huntemann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.09585},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures, 4 pages supplemental material, Published in Physical Review Letters. Open Access under CC BY 4.0