Abstract
Recent mass measurements of light atomic nuclei in Penning traps have indicated possible inconsistencies in closely related physical constants such as the proton-electron and deuteron-proton mass ratios. These quantities also influence the predicted vibrational spectrum of the deuterated molecular hydrogen ion (HD+) in its electronic ground state. We used Doppler-free two-photon laser spectroscopy to measure the frequency of the v = 0→9 overtone transition (v, vibrational quantum number) of this spectrum with an uncertainty of 2.9 parts per trillion. By leveraging high-precision ab initio calculations, we converted our measurement to tight constraints on the proton-electron and deuteron-proton mass ratios, consistent with the most recent Penning trap determinations of these quantities. This results in a precision of 21 parts per trillion for the value of the proton-electron mass ratio.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1238-1241 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Science (New York, N.Y.) |
| Volume | 369 |
| Issue number | 6508 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 Sept 2020 |
Funding
We thank R. Kortekaas, T. Pinkert, and the Electronic Engineering Group of the Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for technical assistance. Funding: We acknowledge support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (FOM Programs "Broken Mirrors & Drifting Constants" and "The Mysterious Size of the Proton"; FOM 13PR3109, STW Vidi 12346), the European Research Council (AdG 670168 Ubachs, AdG 695677 Eikema), the COST Action CA17113 TIPICQA, and the Dutch-French bilateral Van Gogh program. J.-Ph.K. acknowledges support as a fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France. V.I.K. acknowledges support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research under grant ~19-02-00058-a. Author contributions: J.C.J.K. conceived the experiment; S.P., M.G., F.M.J.C., W.U., K.S.E.E., J.C.J.K., J.-Ph.K., and L.H. designed the experiment; J.-Ph.K.,M.H., and V.I.K. developed the theory and performed numerical calculations; S.P., M.G., J.-Ph.K., M.H., L.H., and J.C.J.K. set up and performed numerical simulations for analysis of systematic effects; S.P., M.G., F.M.J.C., K.S.E.E., and J.C.J.K. built the experiment; S.P. and M.G. performed the measurements; S.P., M.G., and J.C.J.K. analyzed the data; S.P., M.G., and J.C.J.K. wrote the manuscript, with input from all other authors; and J.-Ph.K., L.H., K.S.E.E., W.U., and J.C.J.K. planned and supervised the project. Competing interests: One of the authors (J.C.J.K.) is cofounder and shareholder of OPNT bv. The authors declare no further competing interests. Data and materials availability: Computer code and experimental data used to obtain the results of the main text and supplementary materials are available from DataverseNL (https://hdl.handle.net/10411/QCCLF3).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DataverseNL | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 695677, 670168 |
| European Research Council | |
| European Cooperation in Science and Technology | CA17113 |
| Russian Foundation for Basic Research | ~19-02-00058-a |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | |
| Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter | 13PR3109 |
| Stichting voor de Technische Wetenschappen | 12346 |
| Institut universitaire de France |