Spectral calibration for electron beam ion trap and precision measurement of M1 transition wavelength in Ar¹³⁺

Abstract

The precise measurement of the transition wavelength of the fine structure of highly charged ions can not only test basic physical theories including the quantum electrodynamics effect and the electronic correlation effect but also provide key atomic data for astrophysics and fusion plasma physics. Furthermore, highly charged ions are considered as a potential candidate for optical clocks with extremely ultra-high precision. In this work, a new spectral calibration system is built in a high-temperature superconducting electron beam ion trap (SH-HtscEBIT) in the Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, and the uncertainty of its spectrum wavelength measurement is evaluated by combining internal and external calibrations. The minimum wavelength uncertainty caused by the new spectral calibration system in the visible light band reaches 0.002 nm. On this basis, the precise measurement of 2s²2p ²P_1/2－²P_3/2 M1 transition wavelength for boron-like Ar¹³⁺ is performed at the SH-HtscEBIT by utilizing the new calibration system. The experimentally measured transition wavelength is (441.2567 ± 0.0026) nm. It is currently the experimental result with the highest measurement accuracy of spectroscopy of highly charged ions at the SH-HtscEBIT, which lays the foundation for the precise measurement of the hyperfine splitting and isotope shift of highly charged ions in the future experiments.