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In+115−Yb+172 Coulomb Crystal Clock with 2.5×10−18 Systematic Uncertainty

H. N. Hausser1,*, J. Keller1,*,‡, T. Nordmann1, N. M. Bhatt1, J. Kiethe1, H. Liu1, I. M. Richter1, M. von Boehn1, J. Rahm1 et al.

S. Weyers1, E. Benkler1, B. Lipphardt1, S. Dörscher1, K. Stahl1, J. Klose1, C. Lisdat1, M. Filzinger1, N. Huntemann1, E. Peik1, and T. E. Mehlstäubler1,2,3,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: tanja.mehlstaeubler@ptb.de
  • ‡Contact author: jonas.keller@ptb.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 023201 – Published 16 January, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.023201

Abstract

We present a scalable mixed-species Coulomb crystal clock based on the S01↔P30 transition in In+115. Yb+172 ions are cotrapped and used for sympathetic cooling. Reproducible interrogation conditions for mixed-species Coulomb crystals are ensured by a conditional preparation sequence with permutation control. We demonstrate clock operation with a 1In+−3Yb+ crystal, achieving a relative systematic uncertainty of 2.5×10−18 and a relative frequency instability of 1.6×10−15/τ/1  s. We report on absolute frequency measurements with an uncertainty of 1.3×10−16 and optical frequency comparisons with clocks based on Yb+171 (E3) and Sr87. With a fractional uncertainty of 4.4×10−18, the former is—to our knowledge—the most accurate frequency ratio value reported to date. For the In+115/Sr87 ratio, we improve upon the best previous measurement by more than an order of magnitude. We also demonstrate operation with four In+115 clock ions, which reduces the instability to 9.2×10−16/τ/1  s.

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synopsis

Building a Scalable Ion Clock with a Coulomb Crystal

Published 16 January, 2025

Researchers have built an optical clock using an array of trapped ions—an architecture that can be scaled up to boost the clock’s precision.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 023201– Published 16 January, 2025
  • Received 30 April 2024
  • Revised 25 October 2024
  • Accepted 19 November 2024
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