Improved bounds on Lorentz violation from composite pulse Ramsey spectroscopy in a trapped ion

Nat. Commun. 13, 7314 (2022) · DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34818-0

License: CC BY 4.0.

Abstract

In attempts to unify the four known fundamental forces in a single quantum-consistent theory, it is suggested that Lorentz symmetry may be broken at the Planck scale. Here we search for Lorentz violation at the low-energy limit by comparing orthogonally oriented atomic orbitals in a Michelson-Morley-type experiment. We apply a robust radiofrequency composite pulse sequence in the 2F7/2 manifold of an Yb+ ion, extending the coherence time from 200 μs to more than 1 s. In this manner, we fully exploit the high intrinsic susceptibility of the 2F7/2 state and take advantage of its exceptionally long lifetime. We match the stability of the previous best Lorentz symmetry test nearly an order of magnitude faster and improve the constraints on the symmetry breaking coefficients to the 10−21 level. These results represent the most stringent test of this type of Lorentz violation. The demonstrated method can be further extended to ion Coulomb crystals.

Figures

3 panels with data across 1 figure. Each panel page shows the plot, its columns and its files; each data.csv begins with a header naming the paper, the panel, the source, the license and the provenance route.

Fig. 1

Illustrative figure, no extractable data. Shown in the paper PDF.

Fig. 2

Illustrative figure, no extractable data. Shown in the paper PDF.

Fig. 3

• panel (a): Measured $\kappa_{\mathrm{LV}}$ [mrad s$^{-1}$] against time from vernal equinox 2021 [h], binned at 15 min intervals (circles). Error bars are the standard error from quantum projection noise; the red line is the fit to the paper's Eq. (5). The date axis along the top of the print and its day shading are not reproduced. data.csv
• panel (b): Residuals of the fit of panel (a) [mrad s$^{-1}$] against time from vernal equinox 2021 [h], one dot per 15 min bin. The print gives the vertical axis no unit; it is that of panel (a). The day shading of the print is not reproduced. data.csv
• panel (d): Allan deviation $\sigma_\kappa$ [mrad s$^{-1}$] of the data points of panel (a) against averaging time $\tau$ [s], on log-log axes (circles). Error bars are the standard error of the stability. The grey line is the fit to the data; the dash-dotted green line is the stability expected from quantum projection noise. data.csv

Cite

Laura S. Dreissen, Chih-Han Yeh, Henning A. Fürst, Kai C. Grensemann, Tanja E. Mehlstäubler. Improved bounds on Lorentz violation from composite pulse Ramsey spectroscopy in a trapped ion. Nat. Commun. 13, 7314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34818-0

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