Precision measurement of the microwave clock transitions
Phys. Rev. A 113, 012805 – Published 2 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s23f-pnph
Abstract
We report on the precision measurement of the unperturbed microwave transition frequencies in to a fractional uncertainty of . We find the to hyperfine transition frequency to be and the to transition frequency to be . At this precision we are able to observe the hyperfine-mediated effects in the ratio of the quadrupole shifts, from which we can directly infer the residual quadrupole moment after hyperfine averaging. We find a residual quadrupole moment of , consistent with a previous assessment using a different and less direct method. With the unperturbed microwave frequencies accurately known, the residual quadrupole shift for a () optical frequency standard can henceforth be readily evaluated to uncertainty by routine microwave spectroscopy.