Multi-ion frequency reference using dynamical decoupling

Abstract: We present the experimental realization of a continuous dynamical decoupling scheme which suppresses leading frequency shifts in a multi-ion frequency reference based on $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^+$. By near-resonant magnetic coupling of the $^2\mathrm{S}_{1/2}$ and $^2\mathrm{D}_{5/2}$ Zeeman sub-levels using radio-frequency dressing fields, engineered transitions with reduced sensitivity to magnetic-field fluctuations are obtained. A second stage detuned dressing field reduces the influence of amplitude noise in the first stage driving fields and decreases 2\textsuperscript{nd}-rank tensor shifts, such as the electric quadrupole shift. Suppression of the quadratic dependence of the quadrupole shift to $3(2)\,\text{mHz}/\mu m^2$ and coherence times of $290(20)\,\text{ms}$ on the optical transition are demonstrated even within a laboratory environment with significant magnetic field noise. Besides removing inhomogeneous line shifts in multi-ion clocks, the demonstrated dynamical decoupling technique may find applications in quantum computing and simulation with trapped ions by a tailored design of decoherence-free subspaces.