资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

State-of-the-art optical clocks(1) achieve precisions of 10(-18) or better using ensembles of atoms in optical lattices(2,3) or individual ions in radio-frequency traps(4,5). Promising candidates for use in atomic clocks are highly charged ions(6) (HCIs) and nuclear transitions(7), which are largely insensitive to external perturbations and reach wavelengths beyond the optical range(8) that are accessible to frequency combs(9). However, insufficiently accurate atomic structure calculations hinder the identification of suitable transitions in HCIs. Here we report the observation of a long-lived metastable electronic state in an HCI by measuring the mass difference between the ground and excited states in rhenium, providing a non-destructive, direct determination of an electronic excitation energy. The result is in agreement with advanced calculations. We use the high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometer PENTATRAP to measure the cyclotron frequency ratio of the ground state to the metastable state of the ion with a precision of 10(-11)-an improvement by a factor of ten compared with previous measurements(10,11). With a lifetime of about 130 days, the potential soft-X-ray frequency reference at 4.96 x 10(16) hertz (corresponding to a transition energy of 202 electronvolts) has a linewidth of only 5 x 10(-8) hertz and one of the highest electronic quality factors (10(24)) measured experimentally so far. The low uncertainty of our method will enable searches for further soft-X-ray clock transitions(8,12) in HCIs, which are required for precision studies of fundamental physics(6).

Penning trap mass spectrometry is used to measure the electronic transition energy from a long-lived metastable state to the ground state in highly charged rhenium ions with a precision of 10(-11).

Oppositely charged colloidal particles are assembled in water through an approach that allows electrostatic interactions to be precisely tuned to generate macroscopic single crystals.

From rock salt to nanoparticle superlattices, complex structure can emerge from simple building blocks that attract each other through Coulombic forces(1-4). On the micrometre scale, however, colloids in water defy the intuitively simple idea of forming crystals from oppositely charged partners, instead forming non-equilibrium structures such as clusters and gels(5-7). Although various systems have been engineered to grow binary crystals(8-11), native surface charge in aqueous conditions has not been used to assemble crystalline materials. Here we form ionic colloidal crystals in water through an approach that we refer to as polymer-attenuated Coulombic self-assembly. The key to crystallization is the use of a neutral polymer to keep particles separated by well defined distances, allowing us to tune the attractive overlap of electrical double layers, directing particles to disperse, crystallize or become permanently fixed on demand. The nucleation and growth of macroscopic single crystals is demonstrated by using the Debye screening length to fine-tune assembly. Using a variety of colloidal particles and commercial polymers, ionic colloidal crystals isostructural to caesium chloride, sodium chloride, aluminium diboride and K4C60 are selected according to particle size ratios. Once fixed by simply diluting out solution salts, crystals are pulled out of the water for further manipulation, demonstrating an accurate translation from solution-phase assembly to dried solid structures. In contrast to other assembly approaches, in which particles must be carefully engineered to encode binding information(12-18), polymer-attenuated Coulombic self-assembly enables conventional colloids to be used as model colloidal ions, primed for crystallization.

Distributing entanglement over long distances using optical networks is an intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomenon with applications in quantum systems for advanced computing and secure communication(1,2). Building quantum networks requires scalable quantum light-matter interfaces(1) based on atoms(3), ions(4) or other optically addressable qubits. Solid-state emitters(5), such as quantum dots and defects in diamond or silicon carbide(6-10), have emerged as promising candidates for such interfaces. So far, it has not been possible to scale up these systems, motivating the development of alternative platforms. A central challenge is identifying emitters that exhibit coherent optical and spin transitions while coupled to photonic cavities that enhance the light-matter interaction and channel emission into optical fibres. Rare-earth ions in crystals are known to have highly coherent 4f-4f optical and spin transitions suited to quantum storage and transduction(11-15), but only recently have single rare-earth ions been isolated(16,17) and coupled to nanocavities(18,19). The crucial next steps towards using single rare-earth ions for quantum networks are realizing long spin coherence and single-shot readout in photonic resonators. Here we demonstrate spin initialization, coherent optical and spin manipulation, and high-fidelity single-shot optical readout of the hyperfine spin state of single Yb-171(3+) ions coupled to a nanophotonic cavity fabricated in an yttrium orthovanadate host crystal. These ions have optical and spin transitions that are first-order insensitive to magnetic field fluctuations, enabling optical linewidths of less than one megahertz and spin coherence times exceeding thirty milliseconds for cavity-coupled ions, even at temperatures greater than one kelvin. The cavity-enhanced optical emission rate facilitates efficient spin initialization and single-shot readout with conditional fidelity greater than 95 per cent. These results showcase a solid-state platform based on single coherent rare-earth ions for the future quantum internet.

Single ytterbium ion qubits in nanophotonic cavities have long coherence times and can be optically read out in a single shot, establishing them as excellent candidates for optical quantum networks.