We present a novel approach for measuring the differential static scalar polarizability of a target ion utilizing a “polarizability scale” scheme with a reference ion co-trapped in a linear Paul trap. The differential static scalar polarizability of the target ion can be precisely extracted by measuring the ratio of the ac Stark shifts induced by an add-on infrared laser shed on both ions. This method circumvents the need for the calibration of the intensity of the add-on laser, which is usually the bottleneck for measurements of the polarizability of trapped ions. As a demonstration, ${}^{27}{\mathrm{Al}}^{+}$ (the target ion) and ${}^{40}{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ (the reference ion) are used in this work, with an add-on laser at 1068 nm injected into the ion trap along the trap axis. The differential static scalar polarizability of ${}^{27}{\mathrm{Al}}^{+}$ is extracted to be 0.416(14) a.u. by measuring the ratio of the ac Stark shifts of both ions. Compared to the most recent result [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 033201 (2019)], the relative uncertainty of the differential static scalar polarizability of ${}^{27}{\mathrm{Al}}^{+}$ is reduced by approximately a factor of 4, to 3.4%. This improvement is expected to be further enhanced by using an add-on laser with a longer wavelength.

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• Atomic, optical & lattice clocks
• Cooling & trapping
• Electronic structure of atoms & molecules
• Stark effect