Measurement of dipole matrix elements with a single trapped ion

MAX HETTRICH; THOMAS RUSTER; HENNING KAUFMANN; CHRISTIAN ROOS; CHRISTIAN SCHMIEGELOW; FERDINAND SCHMIDT-KALER; ULRICH POSCHINGER

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2015 vol. 115 p. 143003 - 143003

0031-9007

We demonstrate a method to determine dipole matrix elements by comparing measurements of dispersive and absorptive light ion interactions. We measure the matrix element pertaining to the Ca II H line, i.e. the 4 2 S 1/2 ↔ 4 2 P 1/2 transition of 40 Ca + , for which we find the value 2.8928(43) ea 0 . Moreover, the method allows us to deduce the lifetime of the 4 2 P 1/2 state to be 6.904(26) ns, which is in agreement with predictions from recent theoretical calculations and resolves a longstanding discrepancy between calculated values and experimental results.