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    Isotope Shift Spectroscopy in Mercury Vapors: A Promising Alternative to Ytterbium for New Physics Search

    Stefania Gravina, Antonio Castrillo, and Livio Gianfrani*

    • *Contact author: livio.gianfrani@unicampania.it

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 063001 – Published 9 February, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2qxw-y8df

    Abstract

    Isotope shift metrology in the deep-UV region has been performed for all bosonic isotopes of mercury with a zero nuclear spin, using the technique of frequency-comb referenced, wavelength-modulated, saturated absorption spectroscopy. The absolute center frequencies of the 6s2 S10→6s6p  P31 transition have been measured with precision in the range of 2.5–5.9  10−12 in temperature-stabilized Hg vapor samples with natural abundances. Frequency shifts in four isotope pairs have been determined with unprecedented accuracy, the global uncertainty being improved by a factor greater than 20 with respect to the best experimental data of the past literature. Our dataset, when combined with previous measurements on the 6s6p P32→6s7s S31 transition at 546 nm, allows us to build a King plot that reveals a nonlinearity with a statistical significance of 4.6σ.

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