Team

Precision Spectroscopy of Exotic Ions

Scientific activity

The Exotic Ions team works on high-precision spectroscopy of exotic atomic species, where the electron is replaced by another negatively charged particle, such as a muon or antiproton. Using innovative quantum sensing techniques and single-photon X-ray microcalorimeters, the team is making spectroscopic measurements of transitions in these atoms with unrivalled precision to study fundamental interactions. The quantum sensors are developed in collaboration with the Quantum Detection Group at NIST in Boulder, Colorado, and the KIP team in Heidelberg, Germany. Experiments are carried out at exotic beam facilities including J-PARC (Japan) and the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) for muons, and at CERN for antiproton atoms.