Sympathetic cooling of trapped <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msup><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Th</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>3</mml:mn><mml:mo>+</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:math> alpha-recoil ions for laser spectroscopy

Abstract

The authors experimentally demonstrate the sympathetic cooling of Th${}^{3+}$ ions, captured from uranium alpha-recoil sources, in a linear Paul trap using laser-cooled ${}^{88}$Sr${}^{+}$ ions. They show the efficacy of their method via high-resolution laser spectroscopy. This demonstration is an important step in enabling the use of these ions as the reference of a highly accurate nuclear optical clock.

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