Measurement of the ${\text{1}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}\to {\text{2}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}$ interval in positronium using field-ionization of Rydberg states

Abstract

We report a new 40 ppb measurement of the positronium ${\text{1}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}\to {\text{2}}^{\text{3}}{\text{S}}_{\text{1}}$ interval using pulsed two-photon optical spectroscopy. The transition is detected via field-ionization of atoms excited from the 2S to the 20P Rydberg state. Precise Monte-Carlo line-shape simulations allow for the accounting of effects such as Doppler and AC Stark shifts, while an optical heterodyne measurement of the excitation laser pulse is used to correct for laser frequency chirp. A value of $1233607210.5\pm 49.6\mathrm{MHz}$ was obtained. This scheme allows for the measurement of the velocity distribution of positronium atoms to correct for the second-order Doppler effect. This is the major source of systematic uncertainty expected for future measurements of this transition with a CW laser, thus, our technique paves the way toward a new generation of a high precision determination of this interval in positronium.

23 pages, 31 figures

References in corpus (10)

• Precision Study of Positronium: Testing Bound State QED Theory
• Testing CPT symmetry in ortho-positronium decays with positronium annihilation tomography
• First test of $O({\alpha }^2)$ correction of the orthopositronium decay rate
• Observation of positronium annihilation in the 2S state: towards a new measurement of the 1S-2S transition frequency
• Positronium energy levels at order $m{\alpha }^7$: light-by-light scattering in the two-photon-annihilation channel
• Hard Nonlogarithmic Corrections of Order $m{\alpha }^7$ to Hyperfine Splitting in Positronium
• Laser cooling of positronium
• One More Hard Three-Loop Correction to Parapositronium Energy Levels
• Recoil corrections to the energy levels of hydrogenic atoms
• Two-Loop Electron Factor Contribution to Lamb Shift in Muonium and Positronium

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Intensity-dependent precision two-photon Doppler-free spectroscopy of Xe using narrow-bandwidth long-pulse deep-UV laser radiation