High Precision Wavelength Measurements of QED-Sensitive Forbidden Transitions in Highly Charged Argon Ions

I. Draganić, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia, R. DuBois, S. Fritzsche, V. M. Shabaev, R. Soria Orts, I. I. Tupitsyn, Y. Zou, and J. Ullrich

Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 183001 – Published 30 October 2003

Abstract

We present the results of an experimental study of magnetic dipole ( $M 1$ ) transitions in highly charged argon ions (Ar X, Ar XI, Ar XIV, Ar XV) in the visible spectral range using an electron beam ion trap. Their wavelengths were determined with, for highly charged ions, unprecedented accuracy up to the sub-ppm level and compared with theoretical calculations. The QED contributions, calculated in this Letter, are found to be 4 orders of magnitude larger than the experimental error and are absolutely indispensable to bring theory and experiment to a good agreement. This method shows great potential for the study of QED effects in relativistic few-electron systems.

Received 6 December 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.183001

Authors & Affiliations

I. Draganić^1,*, J. R. Crespo López-Urrutia¹, R. DuBois², S. Fritzsche³, V. M. Shabaev⁴, R. Soria Orts¹, I. I. Tupitsyn^1,4, Y. Zou⁵, and J. Ullrich¹

¹Max-Planck Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
²University of Missouri-Rolla, Physics Building, Rolla, Missouri 65409-0640, USA
³Department of Physics, University of Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Strasse 40, D-34132 Kassel, Germany
⁴St. Petersburg State University, Oulianovskaya 1, Petrodvorets, St. Petersburg 198504, Russia
⁵Applied Ion Beam Physics Lab, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, Peoples Republic of China

^*Present address: The Institute of Nuclear Sciences “Vinča,” Laboratory of Physics (010), P.O. Box 522, 11001 Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Email address: draganic@vin.bg.ac.yu

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Vol. 91, Iss. 18 — 31 October 2003

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