Orders-of-magnitude improvement in precision spectroscopy of an inner-shell orbital clock transition in neutral ytterbium

Abstract

An inner-shell orbital clock transition ${}^1{S}_0\leftrightarrow 4f^{13}5d6s^2(J=2)$ in neutral ytterbium atoms has attracted much attention as a new optical frequency standard as well as a highly sensitive probe for several new physics phenomena, such as ultralight dark matter, violation of local Lorentz invariance, and a new Yukawa potential between electrons and neutrons. Here, we demonstrate almost two-orders-of-magnitude improvement in precision spectroscopy over the previous reports on this transition, achieved by trapping atoms in a three-dimensional magic-wavelength optical lattice. In particular, we successfully observe the coherent Rabi oscillation, the relaxation dynamics of the excited state and the interorbital Feshbach resonance. To highlight the high precision of our spectroscopy, we carry out precise isotope shift measurements between five stable bosonic isotopes well below 10 Hz uncertainties, successfully setting bounds for a hypothetical boson mediating a force between electrons and neutrons. These results open up the way for various new physics search experiments and a wide range of applications to quantum science with this clock transition.

References in corpus (18)

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• Tools for quantum simulation with ultracold atoms in optical lattices
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• Real-time geopotentiometry with synchronously linked optical lattice clocks
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• Precision determination of isotope shifts in ytterbium and implications for new physics
• Probing new intra-atomic force with isotope shifts
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• Lifetime of the ${}^2{F}_{7/2}$ level in Yb${}^{+}$ for spontaneous emission of electric octupole radiation
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• The ${}^1{\mathrm{S}}_0$-${}^3{\mathrm{P}}_2$ magnetic quadrupole transition in neutral strontium
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• Coherent excitation of a $\mu$Hz scale optical magnetic quadrupole transition
• The dual King relation

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Long-lived metastable states in the 4f${}^{13}$5d6s configuration of Yb${}^{+}$