We apply direct frequency-comb spectroscopy, in combination with precision cw spectroscopy, to measure the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1 \to {\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ transition frequency in cold calcium atoms. A 657 nm ultrastable cw laser was used to excite atoms on the narrow ($γ\sim 400$ Hz) ${\rm 4s^2} ^1S_0 \to {\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1$ clock transition, and the direct output of the frequency comb was used to excite those atoms from the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1$ state to the ${\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ state. The resonance of this second stage was detected by observing a decrease in population of the ground state as a result of atoms being optically pumped to the metastable ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_{0,2}$ states. The ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1 \to {\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ transition frequency is measured to be $ν= 489 544 285 713(56)$ kHz; which is an improvement by almost four orders of magnitude over the previously measured value. In addition, we demonstrate spectroscopy on magnetically trapped atoms in the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_2$ state.
We report new frequency-comb-based measurements of Ca Rydberg energy levels. Counter-propagating laser beams at 390 nm and 423 nm excite Ca atoms from the $4s^2~^1\mbox{S}_0$ ground state to $4sns~^1\mbox{S}_0$ Rydberg levels with $n$ ranging from 40 to 110. Near-resonant two-photon two-color excitation of atoms in a thermal beam makes it possible to eliminate the first-order Doppler shift. The resulting lineshapes are symmetric and Gaussian. We verify laser metrology and absolute accuracy by reproducing measurements of well-known transitions in Cs, close to the fundamental wavelengths of our …
Accurate values of electric dipole (E1) amplitudes along with their uncertainties for a number of transitions among low-lying states of Mg$^+$, Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, and Ba$^+$ are listed by carrying out calculations using a relativistic all-order many-body method. By combining experimental wavelengths with these amplitudes, we quote transition probabilities, oscillator strengths and lifetimes of many short-lived excited states of the above ions. The uncertainties in these radiative properties are also quoted. We also give electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) amplitudes of the metastabl…
Promising searches for new physics beyond the current Standard Model (SM) of particle physics are feasible through isotope-shift spectroscopy, which is sensitive to a hypothetical fifth force between the neutrons of the nucleus and the electrons of the shell. Such an interaction would be mediated by a new particle which could in principle be associated with dark matter. In so-called King plots, the mass-scaled frequency shifts of two optical transitions are plotted against each other for a series of isotopes. Subtle deviations from the expected linearity could reveal such a fifth force. Here, …
We report an experiment to measure the femtosecond electric field of the signal emitted from an optical third-order nonlinear interaction in carbon dioxide molecules. Using degenerate four-wave mixing with femtosecond near infrared laser pulses in combination with the ultra-weak femtosecond pulse measurement technique of TADPOLE, we measure the nonlinear signal electric field in the time domain at different time delays between the interacting pulses. The chirp extracted from the temporal phase of the emitted nonlinear signal is found to sensitively depend on the electronic and rotational contr…
We have developed an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) frequency comb for performing ultra-high precision spectroscopy on the many XUV transitions found in highly charged ions (HCI). Femtosecond pulses from a 100 MHz phase-stabilized near-infrared frequency comb are amplified and then fed into a femtosecond enhancement cavity (fsEC) inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber. The low-dispersion fsEC coherently superposes several hundred incident pulses and, with a single cylindrical optical element, fully compensates astigmatism at the $w_0=15μ$m waist cavity focus. With a gas jet installed there, intensitie…
