Towards an Optical Nuclear Clock with Thorium-229

A. G. Radnaev, C. J. Campbell, and A. Kuzmich

Abstract:	We report experimental results towards optical excitation of the low-lying isomer level in the 229 Th nucleus, a promising system for use in precise optical clocks and tests of fundamental physics. We have produced laser-cooled Wigner crystals of 229Th3+ in a linear Paul trap, providing a convenient system to search for this nuclear transition and to utilize its potential with high precision spectroscopy. Furthermore, we have measured isotope shifts, magnetic dipole (A) and electric quadrupole (B) hyperfine constants for four low-lying electronic levels, deducing a new value of the spectroscopic nuclear electric quadrupole moment Q = 3.11(16) eb. These measurements provide a reference for evaluation of the sensitivity of the nuclear transition to the variation of the fundamental constants including the fine structure constant.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting November 14 - 17, 2011 Hyatt Regency Long Beach Long Beach, California
Pages:	469 - 476
Cite this article:	Radnaev, A. G., Campbell, C. J., Kuzmich, A., "Towards an Optical Nuclear Clock with Thorium-229," Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Long Beach, California, November 2011, pp. 469-476.
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