Abstract

Optical transitions in highly-charged ions may provide the reference for atomic clocks with enhanced sensitivity to variation of the fundamental constant α. Using level crossings, transitions may be found within the range of lasers even when the ionization potential is several hundred eV. We have identified systems with transitions of valence electrons and holes that provide up to two orders-of-magnitude improvement over the clocks used to obtain the current best limits on α-variation.

© 2011 AOS