Towards precision measurements on highly charged ions using a high harmonic generation frequency comb

Highly charged ions (HCI) offer many advantages over neutral and singly charged ions for probing fundamental physics. Recently they have been proposed as candidates for novel frequency standards. The project presented here aims at studying HCI with high precision in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) region, where many of their transitions are located. To this end, an XUV light source is being developed, using a stabilized frequency comb to generate high-order harmonics inside the focus of an enhancement cavity. This optical resonator resides in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber and is designed to have a very tight focus. The generated XUV light will be guided to a cryogenic linear Paul trap, where trapped HCI are sympathetically cooled by Be+ ions. Individual comb lines can then be used to drive narrow transitions in HCI, enabling XUV spectroscopy with unprecedented accuracy.