Precision measurement of the Mg+25 ground-state hyperfine constant

Abstract

We report an experimental determination of the ground-state hyperfine constant $A$ of the $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}^{+}$ ions by measuring the $|{S}_{1/2},F=2,m=0\ensuremath{\rangle}$ to $|{S}_{1/2},F=3,m=0\ensuremath{\rangle}$ transition (0-0 transition) frequency of the two ground-state hyperfine energy levels. The frequency is measured by rf resonant method in a Paul trap under a magnetic field of about 0.1 mT. The result is $A=\ensuremath{-}596.254$ 248 7(42) MHz. Different frequency shifts and uncertainties are evaluated. The main effect is quadratic Zeeman shift. Since the Paul trap is driven by rf on the electrodes, ac magnetic field can be induced by the rf at the site of the ion. The ac magnetic field causes quadratic Zeeman shift for ion frequency standards and also reduces the coherence time when the ion acts as a quantum bit. Precision measurement of this ac magnetic field can help evaluating the related uncertainty when a single-ion optical clock is established on the trap.