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Free keywords:
Physics, Atomic Physics, physics.atom-ph,Quantum Physics, quant-ph
Abstract:
Precision spectroscopy of atomic and molecular ions offers a window to new
physics, but is typically limited to species with a cycling transition for
laser cooling and detection. Quantum logic spectroscopy has overcome this
limitation for species with long-lived excited states. Here, we extend quantum
logic spectroscopy to fast, dipole-allowed transitions and apply it to perform
an absolute frequency measurement. We detect the absorption of photons by the
spectroscopically investigated ion through the photon recoil imparted on a
co-trapped ion of a different species, on which we can perform efficient
quantum logic detection techniques. This amplifies the recoil signal from a few
absorbed photons to thousands of fluorescence photons. We resolve the line
center of a dipole-allowed transition in 40Ca+ to 1/300 of its observed
linewidth, rendering this measurement one of the most accurate of a broad
transition. The simplicity and versatility of this approach enables
spectroscopy of many previously inaccessible species.
