$^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^+$-$^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ sympathetic-cooling bi-species Coulomb crystal applied to microwave frequency standard

Abstract

We reported the realization of a $^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^+$-$^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ bi-species Coulomb crystal comprising $^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^+$ ions as coolant and verified its potential for application as a $^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ microwave frequency standard employing sympathetic cooling.The two species of massive ions stably trapped in a Paul trap make up this large two-component crystal. The $^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ ions are trapped in the center, which reduces considerably RF heating and excess micromotion to which the $^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ ions are subjected. Under this scheme, the uncertainty due to the second-order Doppler effect is reduced to $5\times10^{-16}$, which represents an order of magnitude improvement over sympathetic cooled $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^+$-$^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ crystal. The uncertainty from the second-order Zeeman effect, which contributes the largest uncertainty to the microwave-ion frequency standard, is reduced to $4\times10^{-16}$. The relevant AC Stark shift uncertainty is estimated to be $4\times10^{-19}$. These results indicate using $^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^+$ as coolant ions for $^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ is far superior and confirm the feasibility of a sympathetic-cooled cadmium-ion microwave clock system employing a $^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^+$-$^{113}\mathrm{Cd}^+$ two-component crystal.