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Highly charged ions for atomic clocks and search for variation of the fine structure constant

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Abstract

We review a number of highly charged ions which have optical transitions suitable for building extremely accurate atomic clocks. This includes ions from Hf 12+ to U 34+, which have the 4f 12 configuration of valence electrons, the Ir 17+ ion, which has a hole in almost filled 4f subshell, the Ho 14+, Cf 15+, Es 17+ and Es 16+ ions. Clock transitions in most of these ions are sensitive to variation of the fine structure constant, α (\(\alpha = e^{2}/\hbar c\)). E.g., californium and einsteinium ions have largest known sensitivity to α-variation while holmium ion looks as the most suitable ion for experimental study. We study the spectra of the ions and their features relevant to the use as frequency standards.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    V. A. Dzuba & V. V. Flambaum

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  1. V. A. Dzuba
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  2. V. V. Flambaum
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Correspondence to V. A. Dzuba.

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Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Trapped Charged Particles and Fundamental Physics (TCP 2014), Takamatsu, Japan,1–5 December 2014.

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Dzuba, V.A., Flambaum, V.V. Highly charged ions for atomic clocks and search for variation of the fine structure constant. Hyperfine Interact 236, 79–86 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10751-015-1166-4

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