Magnetic hyperfine spectrum of isolated (199Hg)+ Ions

The (199Hg)+ ions were stored in an RF quadrupole electric field and their ground state hyperfine populations pumped optically using the ion resonance radiation at 1942 A from a (202Hg) isotope enriched lamp. A microwave field at 40.5 GHz was phase-locked to the 1350th harmonic of the output of a frequency synthesizer, referenced to a Cs-beam frequency standard. Using a digital averager, a high background suppression optical system monitored the fluorescence light from the ions. Linewidths on the order of 3 Hz were observed for the “field-independent” 0-0 transition, and a value of 40, 507, 348, 051±50 Hz was deduced for the magnetic hyperfine interval, corrected to zero magnetic field.