Observation Of The S-1(0)->(3)P0 Clock Transition In Al-27(+)

We report, for the first time, laser spectroscopy of the S-1(0)-> P-3(0) clock transition in Al-27(+). A single aluminum ion and a single beryllium ion are simultaneously confined in a linear Paul trap, coupled by their mutual Coulomb repulsion. This coupling allows the beryllium ion to sympathetically cool the aluminum ion and also enables transfer of the aluminum's electronic state to the beryllium's hyperfine state, which can be measured with high fidelity. These techniques are applied to measure the clock transition frequency nu=1 121 015 393 207 851(6) Hz. They are also used to measure the lifetime of the metastable clock state tau=20.6 +/- 1.4 s, the ground state S-1(0) g factor g(S)=-0.000 792 48(14), and the excited state P-3(0) g factor g(P)=-0.001 976 86(21), in units of the Bohr magneton.