An optical clock based on Ar¹³⁺

Optical atomic clocks are the most precise and accurate measurement devices ever constructed, reaching fractional systematic uncertainties below one part in 10¹⁸. Their exceptional performance opens up a wide range of applications in fundamental science and technology. The extreme properties of highly charged ions (HCI) make them highly sensitive probes for tests of fundamental physical theories. Furthermore, these properties make them significantly less sensitive to some of the leading systematic perturbations that affect state-of-the-art optical clocks, making them exciting candidates for next-generation clocks. The technical challenges that hindered the development of such clocks have now all have been overcome, starting with their extraction from a hot plasma and sympathetic cooling in a linear Paul trap, readout of their internal state via quantum logic spectroscopy, and finally the preparation of the HCI in the ground state of motion of the trap, which allows levels of measurement accuracy to be reached that were previously limited to singly-charged and neutral atoms. Here, we present the first operation of an atomic clock based on an HCI (Ar¹³⁺ in our case) and a full evaluation of systematic frequency shifts. The achieved measurement uncertainty is almost eight orders of magnitude lower than any previous frequency measurements using HCI. Measurements of some key atomic parameters confirm the theoretical predictions of the favorable properties for HCIs for use in clocks. Furthermore, the measured isotope shift between ⁴⁰Ar¹³⁺ and ³⁶Ar¹³⁺ confirms theoretical calculations and comparison to the ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ E3 optical clock places the frequency of this transition among the most precisely measured of all time.