Speaker
Abstract
Penning-trap mass spectrometry provides the most precise and accurate mass values of elementary charged particles to super-heavy elements. Still, there is room for improvement in aspects such as the attainable mass-to-charge ratio or the sensitivity that motivates further developments.
At the University of Granada, we are developing a new technique based on fluorescence detection through a 40Ca+ sensor ion using the TRAPSENSOR facility. The scattered photons will be used to measure the normal mode eigenfrequencies of the unbalanced crystal formed by this ion and a target one [1] when the crystal is cooled to the ground state of motion [2]. This technique is universal (for any mass-to-charge ratio), non-destructive and only one target ion is needed.
In this contribution, we will present the status of the TRAPSENSOR facility [3] and the recent results. So far, laser cooling to the Doppler limit of externally produced ions and the formation of crystalline structures have been achieved [4]. In parallel, we have built a laser-desorption ion source which has been tested for ions of interest such as thorium or rhenium, of importance in the field of nuclear clocks and neutrino mass measurements, respectively. We will also comment on the results obtained using an alternative approach to the well-known induced-current detection method using superconducting coils. Our approach is based on quartz crystals as room-temperature high quality-factor resonators, for which we have demonstrated a novel feature of faster detection [5]. Finally, we will summarize the perspectives for the implementation of the new technique in the quantum regime using an ultra-high finesse laser cavity to access the 40Ca+ clock transition.
[1] M. J. Gutiérrez et al., Phys. Rev. A 100, 063415 (2019)
[2] J. Cerrillo and D. Rodríguez, EPL- Perspective 134, 38001 (2021)
[3] M. J. Gutiérrez et al., New J. Phys. 21, 023023 (2019)
[4] J. Berrocal et al., under revision
[5] J. Berrocal et al., Quantum Sci. Technol. 6, 044002 (2021)
