• Open Access

Improved Limits for Violations of Local Position Invariance from Atomic Clock Comparisons

R. Lange, N. Huntemann, J. M. Rahm, C. Sanner, H. Shao, B. Lipphardt, Chr. Tamm, S. Weyers, and E. Peik
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 011102 – Published 6 January 2021

Abstract

We compare two optical clocks based on the S21/2(F=0)D23/2(F=2) electric quadrupole (E2) and the S21/2(F=0)F27/2(F=3) electric octupole (E3) transition of Yb171+ and measure the frequency ratio νE3/νE2=0.932829404530965376(32), improving upon previous measurements by an order of magnitude. Using two caesium fountain clocks, we find νE3=642121496772645.10(8)Hz, the most accurate determination of an optical transition frequency to date. Repeated measurements of both quantities over several years are analyzed for potential violations of local position invariance. We improve by factors of about 20 and 2 the limits for fractional temporal variations of the fine structure constant α to 1.0(1.1)×1018/yr and of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ to 8(36)×1018/yr. Using the annual variation of the Sun’s gravitational potential at Earth Φ, we improve limits for a potential coupling of both constants to gravity, (c2/α)(dα/dΦ)=14(11)×109 and (c2/μ)(dμ/dΦ)=7(45)×108.

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  • Received 13 October 2020
  • Revised 23 November 2020
  • Accepted 15 December 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.011102

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & OpticalGeneral Physics

Authors & Affiliations

R. Lange, N. Huntemann*, J. M. Rahm, C. Sanner, H. Shao, B. Lipphardt, Chr. Tamm, S. Weyers, and E. Peik

  • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany

  • *Corresponding author. nils.huntemann@ptb.de
  • Present address: JILA, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.

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Vol. 126, Iss. 1 — 8 January 2021

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