Precision Metrology with Ytterbium Ions for New Physics Search

Abstract

Modern physics faces a growing discrepancy between the success of the Standard Model and the body of evidence pointing to the New Physics beyond it. A powerful method of New Physics searches is using quantum sensing tools based on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical physics. In particular, the modern optical atomic clocks demonstrate unprecedented accuracy and precision. Complementary to high-energy searches with particle colliders, the atomic clocks are used to place stringent bounds on tests of fundamental physics. One of the possible candidates for physics beyond the Standard Model is a carrier of a fifth force. Such a hypothetical particle that mediates interactions between leptons and quarks can potentially be detected in a tabletop atomic clock experiment. In particular, the isotope shift measurements may show sensitivity to coupling induced by such particles. In this thesis, we describe the efforts to place bounds on this particle using isotope shifts of optical transitions in Ytterbium. We conduct the isotope shift experiment by measuring ions one at a time and in a co-trapped configuration following the protocol of correlation spectroscopy. We study the systematic uncertainty budget for both types of measurements. We apply the King plot method to isotope shift spectroscopy data and observe the King nonlinearity. Using the analysis of the nonlinearity patterns, we determine the significance of the second source of the King nonlinearity with a currently unknown source.