Direct measurement of the 7s2S1/2→7p2P3/2 transition frequency in Ra+226

Abstract

We report a direct measurement of the $7s\ ^2S_{1/2}\rightarrow$ $7p\ ^2P_{3/2}$ electric dipole transition frequency in $^{226}$Ra$^{+}$. With a single laser-cooled radium ion we determine the transition frequency to be 785722.11(3) GHz by directly driving the transition with frequency-doubled light and measuring the frequency of the undoubled light with an iodine reference. This measurement addresses a discrepancy of five combined standard deviations between previously reported values.