Accurate calculations of magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine coupling constants of 6 P_{3/2} state of Cesium atom : A Relativistic Coupled Cluster approach
We report the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine coupling constants of 6 P_{3/2} state of ^{133} Cs(I= {7/2}) obtained from the relativistic coupled cluster (RCC) method. To our knowledge, no prior electric quadrupole hyperfine CC calculation is available for ^{133} Cs(6 P_{3/2}) state. Our computed magnetic dipole (A) and electric quadrupole (B) coupling constants are in excellent agreement with the experiment.
We report measurements of the hyperfine coupling constant for the $8p \ ^2P_{1/2}$ level of atomic cesium, $^{133}$Cs, with a relative uncertainty of $\sim$0.019\%. Our result is $A = 42.933 \: (8)$ MHz, in good agreement with recent theoretical results. We also examine the hyperfine structure of the $8p \ ^2P_{3/2}$ state, and derive new values for the state energies of the $8p \ ^2P_{1/2}$ and $8p \ ^2P_{3/2}$ states of cesium.
We report measurements of the absolute energies of the hyperfine components of the $12s \ ^2S_{1/2}$ and $13s \ ^2S_{1/2}$ levels of atomic cesium, $^{133}$Cs. Using the frequency difference between these components, we determine the hyperfine coupling constants for these states, and report these values with a relative uncertainty of $\sim$0.06 %. We also examine the hyperfine structure of the $11d \ ^2D_{J}$ ($J=3/2, 5/2$) states, and resolve the sign ambiguity of the hyperfine coupling constants from previous measurements of these states. We also derive new, high precision values for the sta…
We report the hyperfine splitting (HFS) measurement of cesium (Cs) 7S1/2 state by optical-optical double-resonance spectroscopy in the 6S1/2-6P3/2-7S1/2 (852 nm + 1470 nm) ladder-type system. The HFS frequency calibration is performed by employing a phase-type waveguide electro-optic modulator together with a stable confocal Fabry-Perot cavity. From the measured HFS between F"= 3 and F"= 4 manifolds of Cs 7S1/2 state [HFS = 2183.273(37) MHz], we have determined the magnetic dipole hyperfine coupling constant [A = 545.818(09) MHz], which is in good agreement with the previous work but much more…
The measurement of Cesium (Cs) 7D5/2 excited state's hyperfine splitting intervals and hyperfine-interaction constants has been experimentally investigated based on ladder-type (852 nm + 698 nm) three-level Cs system (6S1/2 - 6P3/2 - 7D5/2) with room-temperature Cs atomic vapor cell. By scanning the 698-nm coupling laser's frequency, the Doppler-free high-resolution electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) assisted double-resonance optical pumping (DROP) spectra have been demonstrated via transmission enhancement of the locked 852-nm probe laser. The EIT-assisted DROP spectra are employe…
The $6S_{1/2}-5D_{5/2}$ electric quadrupole transition is investigated in Cesium vapor at room temperature via nonlinear Doppler-free 6P-6S-5D three-level spectroscopy. Frequency-resolved studies of individual E2 hyperfine lines allow one to analyze optical pumping dynamics, polarization selection rules and line intensities. It opens the way to studies of transfer of light orbital angular momentum to atoms, and the influence of metamaterials on E2 line spectra.
We have performed relativistic many-body calculations of the hyperfine interaction in the $6s$ and $7s$ states of Cs, including the off-diagonal matrix element. The calculations were used to determine the accuracy of the semi-empirical formula for the electromagnetic transition amplitude $<6s|M1|7s>$ induced by the hyperfine interaction. We have found that even though the contribution of the many-body effects into the matrix elements is very large, the square root formula $<6s|H_{hfs}|7s > = \sqrt{< 6s|H_{hfs}|6s > < 7s|H_{hfs}|7s >}$ remains valid to the accuracy of a fraction of $10^{-3}$. T…
We report measurements of absolute transition frequencies and hyperfine coupling constants for the 8S_{1/2}, 9S_{1/2}, 7D_{3/2}, and 7D_{5/2} states in ^{133}Cs vapor. The stepwise excitation through either the 6P_{1/2} or 6P_{3/2} intermediate state is performed directly with broadband laser light from a stabilized femtosecond laser optical-frequency comb. The laser beam is split, counter-propagated and focused into a room-temperature Cs vapor cell. The repetition rate of the frequency comb is scanned and we detect the fluorescence on the 7P_{1/2,3/2} -> 6S_{1/2} branches of the decay of the …
Bright and dark nonlinear magneto-optical resonances associated with the ground state Hanle effect have been studied experimentally and theoretically for D1 excitation of atomic cesium. This system offers the advantage that the separation between the different hyperfine levels exceeds the Doppler width, and, hence, transitions between individual levels can be studied separately. Experimental measurements for various laser power densities and transit relaxation times are compared with a model based on the optical Bloch equations, which averages over the Doppler contour of the absorption line an…
We report the measurement of hyperfine splitting in the $7d$ $^{2}D_{3/2}$ state of $^{133}$Cs using high resolution Doppler-free two-photon spectroscopy in a Cs vapor cell. We determine the hyperfine coupling constants $A = 7.3509(9)$ MHz and $B = -0.041(8)$ MHz, which represent an order of magnitude improvement in the precision. We also obtain bounds on the magnitude of the nuclear magnetic octupole coupling constant $C$. Additionally, we measure the ac Stark shift of the $6s$ $^{2}S_{1/2} \rightarrow 7d$ $^{2}D_{3/2}$ transition at 767.8 nm to be $-49 \pm 5$ Hz/(W/cm$^2$), in agreement with…
We present a new theoretical analysis of the strongly suppressed F- and M-dependent Stark shifts of the Cs ground state hyperfine structure. Our treatment uses third order perturbation theory including off-diagonal hyperfine interactions not considered in earlier treatments. A numerical evaluation of the perturbation sum using bound states up to n=200 yields ground state tensor polarizabilities which are in good agreement with experimental values, thereby bridging the 40-year-old gap between experiments and theory. We have further found that the tensor polarizabilities of the two ground state …
Large scale ab initio calculations of the electric contribution (i.e. the electric field gradient) to the electric quadrupole hyperfine interaction constants $B$ for the $5p~^2P_{3/2}$ state in $^{109}$Cd$^+$ ion and the $5s5p~^3P_{1,2}$ states in neutral $^{109}$Cd atom were performed. To probe the sensitivity of $B$ to different electron correlation effects, six sets of variational multi-configuration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration interaction calculations employing different strategies were carried out. The calculated electric field gradients, together with experimental v…
We report the measurement of the hyperfine splitting in the $7D_{5/2}$ state of $^{133}$Cs using high resolution Doppler-free two-photon spectroscopy enabled by precise frequency scans using an acousto-optic modulator. All the six hyperfine levels are resolved in our spectra. We determine the hyperfine coupling constants A = -1.70867(62) MHz and B = 0.050(14) MHz which represent over 20-times improvement in the precision of both A and B. Moreover, our measurement is sufficiently precise to put bounds on the value of the magnetic octupole coupling constant C = 0.4(1.4) kHz for the $7D_{5/2}$ st…
We present a theoretical analysis of the Stark effect in the hyperfine structure of the cesium ground-state. We have used third order perturbation theory, including diagonal and off-diagonal hyperfine interactions, and have identified terms which were not considered in earlier treatments. A numerical evaluation using perturbing levels up to n=18 yields new values for the tensor polarizability $α_2(6S_{1/2})$ and for the Stark shift of the clock transition frequency in cesium. The polarizabilities are in good agreement with experimental values, thereby removing a 40-year-old discrepancy. The cl…
I searched for the ground state 6.8 and 9.2 GHz hyperfine transitions of rubidium and cesium toward M- and L-dwarfs that show Rb and Cs optical resonance lines. The optical lines can pump the hyperfine transitions, potentially forming masers. These spin-flip transitions of Rb and Cs are the principal transitions used in atomic clocks (the $^{133}$Cs hyperfine transition defines the second). If they are detected in stellar atmospheres, these transitions would provide exceptionally precise clocks that can be used as accelerometers, as exoplanet detectors, as probes of the predictions of general …
We investigate electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constant ($B$) results in $^{135}$Ba$^+$ and $^{137}$Ba$^+$ and compare their ratios with the reported measurements of the ratio between the nuclear quadrupole moment ($Q$) values of these isotopes. We carry out confidence tests for the reported experimental $B$ values and calculations of $B/Q$ from the present work. Inconsistencies in the experimental $B$ values are observed in both the isotopes from different experiments performed using the same techniques. The present calculations are carried out using an all order relativistic many-bod…
Spherically-symmetric ground states of alkali-metal atoms do not posses electric quadrupole moments. However, the hyperfine interaction between nuclear moments and atomic electrons distorts the spherical symmetry of electronic clouds and leads to non-vanishing atomic quadrupole moments. We evaluate these hyperfine-induced quadrupole moments using techniques of relativistic many-body theory and compile results for Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs atoms. For heavy atoms we find that the hyperfine-induced quadrupole moments are strongly (two orders of magnitude) enhanced by correlation effects. We further a…
We report on the coupling of an electric quadrupole transition in atom with plasmonic excitation in a nanostructured metallic metamaterial. The quadrupole transition at 685 nm in the gas of Cesium atoms is optically pumped, while the induced ground state population depletion is probed with light tuned on the strong electric dipole transition at 852 nm. We use selective reflection to resolve the Doppler-free hyperfine structure of Cesium atoms. We observed a strong modification of the reflection spectra at the presence of metamaterial and discuss the role of the spatial variation of the surface…
The quantum resonances of an atom possessing a single valence electron which shows hyperfine interaction with the nucleus is investigated in the presence of a three dimensional magnetic quadrupole field. Particular emphasis is put on the study of the interplay of the hyperfine and quadrupole forces. Analyzing the underlying Hamiltonian a variety of symmetries are revealed which give rise to a two-fold degeneracy of the resonance energies. Our numerical approach employs the complex scaling method and a Sturmian basis set. Several regimes and classes of short-lived and long-lived resonances are …
We evaluate the electric quadrupole moments of the ${^1}\!S_0$ and ${^3}\!P_0$ clock states of $^{27}$Al$^+$ and $^{115}$In$^+$. To capture all dominant contributions, our analysis extends through third order of perturbation theory and includes hyperfine coupling of the electrons to both the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments of the nucleus. For $^{27}$Al$^+$, a fortuitous cancellation leads to a suppressed frequency shift. This should allow for continued improvement of the clock without special techniques to control or cancel the shift, such as the averaging schemes that are crit…
The relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and the non-relativistic multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) methods have been employed to calculate the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants of zinc. The calculated electric field gradients for the $ 4s 4p \,\, ^3 \! P^o_{1} $ and $ 4s 4p \,\, ^3 \! P^o_{2} $ states, together with experimental values of the electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants, made it possible to extract a nuclear electric quadrupole moment $ Q(^{67}{\rm Zn}) = 0.122(10) $ b. The error bar has been evaluated in a q…
We have trapped cesium atoms over many minutes in the focus of a CO$_2$-laser beam employing an extremely simple laser system. Collisional properties of the unpolarized atoms in their electronic ground state are investigated. Inelastic binary collisions changing the hyperfine state lead to trap loss which is quantitatively analyzed. Elastic collisions result in evaporative cooling of the trapped gas from 25 $μ$K to 10 $μ$K over a time scale of about 150 s.
Hyperfine-induced electric dipole contributions may significantly increase probabilities of otherwise very weak electric octupole and magnetic quadrupole atomic clock transitions (e.g. transitions between $s$ and $f$ electron orbitals). These transitions can be used for exceptionally accurate atomic clocks, quantum information processing and search for dark matter. They are very sensitive to new physics beyond the Standard Model, such as temporal variation of the fine structure constant, the Lorentz invariance and Einstein equivalence principle violation. We formulate conditions under which th…
By combining our theoretical calculation and recently measured electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constant of the $3d ^2D_{5/2}$ state in the singly ionized $^{43}$Ca, we determine its nuclear quadrupole moment to one percent accuracy. The obtained result, $-0.0444(6)b$, is about ten percent improvement over the considered standard value. We have employed the relativistic coupled-cluster theory at single and double excitations level to calculate the electronic wave functions. The accuracy of these wave functions are estimated by comparing our calculated magnetic dipole hyperfine constants…
Atomic quadrupole moments and hyperfine constants of the metastable $^2 D_{3/2, 5/2}$ states of Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, Ba$^+$, Yb$^+$, and Hg$^+$ are calculated by the multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock and relativistic configuration-interaction methods. For Hg$^+$, the configuration is $5d^9 6s^2$. For the other ions, the configuration consists of a single $d$-electron outside a set of closed shells. Current interest in the quadrupole moments of these states is due to the fact that optical transitions of these ions may be useful as references for frequency standards. Energy shifts of the metastab…
We have employed the relativistic coupled cluster theory to calculate the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine constants for the ground and low lying excited states of singly ionized magnesium. Comparison with experimental and the other theoretical results are done and predictions are also made for a few low lying excited states which could be of interest. We have made comparative studies of the important many body effects contributing to the hyperfine constants for the different states of the ion.
We report results of a theoretical investigation of hyperfine interactions in two homonuclear isotopologues of the hydrogen molecule: H$_{2}$ and D$_{2}$. We present a set of hyperfine coupling constants: spin-rotation, spin-spin dipole and, in the case of the D$_{2}$ molecule, electric quadrupole coupling constants for all bound states of the two isotopologues in their ground electronic $X^{1}Σ^{+}_{g}$ state. We provide a list of positions and intensities of 220 997 hyperfine components of 16 079 rovibrational quadrupole transitions of the O, Q and S branches. The positions and intensities o…
We have performed accurate calculations of the hyperfine structure of the $2\,^3\!P$ state in the $^9$Be atom with the help of highly optimized, explicitly correlated functions, accounting for the leading finite nuclear mass, radiative, nuclear structure and relativistic effects. By comparison with measurements, we have determined the $^9$Be nuclear quadrupole moment to be $Q_{\rm N} = 0.05350(14)$ barns, which is not only the most accurate result, but also disagrees with previous determinations.
We consider microwave hyperfine transitions in the ground state of cesium and rubidium atoms which are presently used as the primary and the secondary frequency standards. The atoms are confined in an optical lattice generated by a circularly polarized laser field. We demonstrate that applying an external magnetic field with appropriately chosen direction may cancel dynamic Stark frequency shift making the frequency of the clock transition insensitive to the strengths of both the laser and the magnetic fields. This can be attained for practically any laser frequency which is sufficiently dista…
Corrections from Breit interaction to basic properties of atomic 133Cs are determined in the framework of third-order relativistic many-body perturbation theory. The corrections to energies, hyperfine-structure constants, off-diagonal hyperfine 6S-7S amplitude, and electric-dipole matrix elements are tabulated. It is demonstrated that the Breit corrections to correlations are comparable to the Breit corrections at the Dirac-Hartree-Fock level. Modification of the parity-nonconserving (PNC) 6S-7S amplitude due to Breit interaction is also evaluated; the resulting weak charge of $^{133}$Cs shows…
The finite distribution of the nuclear magnetic moment across the nucleus gives a contribution to the hyperfine structure known as the Bohr-Weisskopf (BW) effect. We have obtained an empirical value of -0.24(18)% for this effect in the ground and excited s states of atomic Cs-133. This value is found from historical muonic-atom measurements in combination with our muonic-atom and atomic many-body calculations. The effect differs by 0.5% in the hyperfine structure from the value found using the uniform magnetization distribution, which has been commonly employed in the precision heavy-atom comm…
We derive an expression for the magnetic blackbody shift of hyperfine transitions such as the cesium primary reference transition which defines the second. The shift is found to be a complicated function of temperature, and has a T^2 dependence only in the high-temperature limit. We also calculate the shift of ground-state p_1/2 hyperfine transitions which have been proposed as new atomic clock transitions. In this case interaction with the p_3/2 fine-structure multiplet may be the dominant effect.
We have performed ab initio calculations of the frequency shift induced by a static electric field on the cesium clock hyperfine transition. The calculations are used to find the frequency shifts due to blackbody radiation. Our result ($δν/E^2=-2.26(2)\times 10^{-10}$Hz/(V/m)$^2$) is in good agreement with early measurements and ab initio calculations performed in other groups. We present arguments against recent claims that the actual value of the effect might be smaller. The difference ($\sim$ 10%) between ab initio and semiempirical calculations is due to the contribution of the continuum s…
The relativistic coupled-cluster theory has been employed to calculate the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants for the stable isotopes $^{45}$Sc and $^{89}$Y. The role of electron correlation is found to be very important. The trend exhibited by these effects is rather different from previously studied single valence atomic systems.
Molecular hydrogen ions are of metrological relevance due to the possibility of precise theoretical evaluation of their spectrum and of external-field-induced shifts. In homonuclear molecular ions the electric dipole $E1$ transitions are strongly suppressed, and of primary laser spectroscopy interest is the electric quadrupole ($E2$) transition spectrum. In continuation of previous work on the H$_2^+$ ion, we report here the results of the calculations of the hyperfine structure of the laser-induced electric quadrupole transitions between a large set of ro-vibrational states of D$_2^+$; the in…
Hyperfine-structure constants of odd Ra$^{+}$ due to the interactions of nuclear magnetic dipole, electric quadrupole, and magnetic octupole moments with the electrons are investigated in the framework of relativistic coupled-cluster method within single- and double-excitation approximation. The calculated energies and magnetic dipole hyperfine-structure constants $A$ exhibit a good agreement with available experimental values. Combining with the experimental electric quadrupole hyperfine-structure constant, we also extracted the electric quadrupole moments $Q$ of $^{209,211,221,223}$Ra. Our $…
The values of nuclear electric quadrupole moment are different by about 7% for 87Sr nucleus between the recommended value [N. J. Stone, At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 111-112, 1 (2016); P. Pyykko, Mol. Phys. 116, 1328 (2018)] and earlier results [e.g. A. M. Matensson-Pendrill, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 35, 917 (2002); K. Z. Yu et al., Phys. Rev. A 70, 012506 (2004)]. In this work, we reported a new value, Q(87Sr) = 328(4) mb, making use of our calculated electric field gradients produced by electrons at nucleus in combination with experimental values for hyperfine structures of the 5s5p 3P1,…
Relativistic formulas for the electric quadrupole moment of a hydrogenlike atom, induced by the hyperfine interaction, are derived for $ns_{1/2}$ and $np_{1/2}$ states. Both the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine interactions are taken into account. The formulas are valid for ions with arbitrary nuclear charge and spin. The induced quadrupole moment is compared with the nuclear quadrupole moment for a wide range of hydrogenlike ions.
We present a systematic study on the Raman gray molasses cooling (RGMC) of cesium atoms on the $D_2$ transition. Due to the large splitting in the excited hyperfine transitions of cesium $D_2$ line, it is relatively simple to implement the RGMC with suitable frequency control on the trapping and repumping lasers of the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We have achieved an atom temperature of 1.7$\pm$0.2 $μ$K after the RGMC with $3.2\times 10^8$ atoms. The phase space density is $1.43\times 10^{-4}$. Compared to the condition with a bare MOT or the MOT with a standard polarization gradient cooling, t…
We demonstrate the importance of electron correlation effects in the hyperfine structure constants of many low-lying states in $^{210}$Fr and $^{212}$Fr. This is achieved by calculating the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants using the Dirac-Fock approximation, second order many-body perturbation theory and the coupled-cluster method in the singles and doubles approximation in the relativistic framework. By combining our recommended theoretical results with the corresponding experimental values, improved nuclear magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments …
Searching for an accurate optical clock which can serve as a better time standard than the present day atomic clock is highly demanding from several areas of science and technology. Several attempts have been made to built more accurate clocks with different ion species. In this article we discuss the electric quadrupole and hyperfine shifts in the $5d^{9}6s^{2} ^{2}D_{5/2}(F=0,m_{F}=0)\leftrightarrow5d^{10}6s ^{2}S_{1/2}(F=2,m_{F}=0)$ clock transition in $ ^{199}Hg^{+}$, one of the most promising candidates for next generation optical clocks. We have applied Fock-space unitary coupled-cluster…
A method for precise calculation of the energy corrections due to second order electric quadrupole interactions, as well as mixed electric quadrupole-vacuum polarization in the framework of the dynamic hyperfine structure in heavy muonic atoms is presented. For this, a multipole expansion of the Uehling potential is performed. The approach is applicable for an arbitrary nuclear electric charge distribution. By performing these calculations for muonic Rhenium and Uranium using a deformed Fermi distribution, it is shown that both corrections contribute on a level presumably visible in upcoming e…
We report on the storage of light via the phenomenon of Coherent Population Oscillation (CPO) in an atomic cesium vapor at room temperature. In the experiment the optical information of a probe field is stored in the CPO of two ground states of a Lambda three-level system formed by the Zeeman sublevels of the hyperfine transition F = 3 - F' = 2 of cesium D2 line. We show directly that this CPO based memory is very insensitive to stray magnetic field inhomogeneities and presents a lifetime which is mainly limited only by atomic motion. A theoretical simulation of the measured spectra was also d…
We consider hyperfine-mediated effects for clock transitions in $^{176}$Lu$^+$. Mixing of fine structure levels due to the hyperfine interaction bring about modifications to Landé $g$-factors and the quadrupole moment for a given state. Explicit expressions are derived for both $g$-factor and quadrupole corrections, for which leading order terms arise from the nuclear magnetic dipole coupling. High accuracy measurements of the $g$-factors for the $^1S_0$ and $^3D_1$ hyperfine levels are carried out, which provide an experimental determination of the leading order correction terms.
The multiconfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) model has been employed to calculate the expectation values for the hyperfine splittings of the 5d96s2 2D3/2 and 5d96s2 2D5/2 levels of atomic gold. One-, two-, and three-body electron correlation effects involving all 79 electrons have been included in a systematic manner. The approximation employed in this study is equivalent to a Complete Active Space (CAS) approach. Calculated electric field gradients, together with experimental values of the electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants, allow us to extract a nuclear electric quadrupol…
We propose a direct method of detection of the nuclear anapole moment. It is based on the existence of a linear Stark shift for alkali atoms in their ground state perturbed by a quadrupolar interaction potential and a magnetic field. This shift is proportional to the T-even pseudoscalar built from the quadrupolar potential symmetry axis, the directions of the applied electric and magnetic fields.It involves on the one hand the anisotropy of the hyperfine interaction induced by the quadrupolar interaction and, on the other,the static electric dipole moment arising from electroweak interactions …
We investigate the hyperfine energy levels and Zeeman splittings for homonuclear alkali-metal dimers in low-lying rotational and vibrational states, which are important for experiments designed to produce quantum gases of deeply bound molecules. We carry out density-functional theory (DFT) calculations of the nuclear hyperfine coupling constants. For nonrotating states, the zero-field splittings are determined almost entirely by the scalar nuclear spin-spin coupling constant. By contrast with the heteronuclear case, the total nuclear spin remains a good quantum number in a magnetic field. We a…
The hyperfine structures of the $2\,^3\!S_1$ and $2\,^3\!P_J$ states of the $^7$Be$^{2+}$ and $^9$Be$^{2+}$ ions are investigated within the framework of the nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics (NRQED). The uncertainties of present hyperfine splitting results of $^9$Be$^{2+}$ are in the order of several tens of ppm, where two orders of magnitude improvement over the previous theory and experiment values has been achieved. The contribution of nuclear electric quadrupole moment to hyperfine splitting of $^7$Be$^{2+}$ has been studied. A scheme for determining the properties of Be nuclei in t…
Determination of nuclear moments for many nuclei relies on the computation of hyperfine constants, with theoretical uncertainties directly affecting the resulting uncertainties of the nuclear moments. In this work we improve the precision of such method by including for the first time an iterative solution of equations for the core triple cluster amplitudes into the relativistic coupled-cluster method, with large-scale complete basis sets. We carried out calculations of the energies and magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure constants for the low-lying states of 229Th^(3+)…
We show that by averaging over transitions to multiple hyperfine levels, quadrupole shifts and dominant Zeeman effects exactly cancel whenever the nuclear spin, I, is at least as large as the total electronic angular momentum, J. The average frequency thus defines a frequency reference which is inherently independent of external magnetic fields and electric field gradients. We use Lu+ to illustrate the method although the approach could be readily adapted to other atomic species. This approach practically eliminates the quadrupole and Zeeman shift considerations for many clock candidates.
