| Autor: |
Schenkel, M. R., Alighanbari, S., Schiller, S. |
| Zdroj: |
Nature Physics; March 2024, Vol. 20 Issue: 3 p383-388, 6p |
| Abstrakt: |
Comparison of precise predictions of the energy levels of the molecular hydrogen ion H2+—the simplest molecule—with measured vibrational transition frequencies would allow a direct determination of the proton-to-electron mass ratio and of the proton’s charge radius. Here we report vibrational laser spectroscopy of trapped and sympathetically laser-cooled H2+, which represents a step towards this goal. We studied a first-overtone electric-quadrupole transition and measured its two hyperfine components. The determined spin-averaged vibrational transition frequency has a fractional uncertainty of 1.2 × 10−8and is in agreement with the theoretically predicted value. We measured an analogous electric-quadrupole transition in HD+to estimate systematic uncertainties. Here, we observed a vastly improved line quality factor compared to previous electric-quadrupole spectroscopy of molecular ions. Our work demonstrates that first-overtone electric-quadrupole transitions are suitable for precision spectroscopy of molecular ions, including H2+, and that determining the proton-to-electron mass ratio with laser spectroscopy could become competitive with mass spectrometry using Penning traps. Furthermore, achieving precision spectroscopy of H2+is an essential prerequisite for a future test of combined charge, parity and time reversal symmetry based on a comparison with its antimatter counterpart. |
| Databáze: |
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