The magnetic moment anomaly of the electron bound in hydrogen-like oxygen16O7+

Abstract

The measurement of the g-factorof the electron bound in a hydrogen-like ion is a high-accuracy test of the theory ofquantum electrodynamics (QED) in strong fields. Here we report on the measurement ofthe g-factorof the bound electron in hydrogen-like oxygen (16O7+). In our experimenta single highly charged ion is stored in a Penning trap. The electronicspin state of the ion is monitored via the continuous Stern–Gerlacheffect in a quantum non-demolition measurement. Quantum jumpsbetween the two spin states (spin up and spin down) are induced by amicrowave field at the spin precession frequency of the bound electron. Theg-factorof the bound electron is obtained by varying the microwave frequency and countingthe number of spin flips. The comparison of our experimental values for theg-factorof the bound electron with the theoretical values shows excellent agreement andconfirms the recent non-perturbative QED calculations.