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Paving the way for fundamental physics tests with singly-ionized helium

Atomic Physics 2022-09-21 v1

Abstract

High-precision laser spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen has led to an impressive accuracy in tests of bound-state quantum electrodynamics (QED). At the current level of accuracy many systematics have to be studied very carefully and only independent measurements provide the ultimate cross-check. This has been proven recently by measurements in muonic hydrogen, eventually leading to a significant shift of the CODATA recommended values of the proton charge radius and the Rydberg constant. We aim to contribute to tests of fundamental physics by measuring the 1S-2S transition in the He+^+ ion for the first time. Combined with measurements in muonic helium ions this can probe the value of the Rydberg constant, test higher-order QED terms, or set benchmarks for ab initio nuclear polarizability calculations. We extend the Ramsey-comb spectroscopy method to the XUV using high-harmonic generation in order to excite a single, trapped He+^+ ion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1910.13192,
  title  = {Paving the way for fundamental physics tests with singly-ionized helium},
  author = {J. J. Krauth and L. S. Dreissen and C. Roth and E. L. Gründeman and M. Collombon and M. Favier and K. S. E. Eikema},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.13192},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

10 pages, 4 figures, FFK2019

R2 v1 2026-06-23T11:58:11.447Z