^{1}S_{0}-^{3}P_{2} magnetic quadrupole transition in neutral strontium

Abstract

We present a detailed investigation of the ultranarrow magnetic-quadrupole ^{1}S_{0}-^{3}P_{2} transition in neutral strontium and show how it can be made accessible for quantum simulation and quantum computation. By engineering the light shift in a one-dimensional optical lattice, we perform high-resolution spectroscopy and observe the characteristic absorption patterns for a magnetic quadrupole transition. We measure an absolute transition frequency of 446,647,242,704(2) kHz in ^{88}Sr and an ^{88}Sr-^{87}Sr isotope shift of +62.91(4) MHz. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we use this transition to demonstrate local addressing in an optical lattice with 532 nm spacing with a Rayleigh-criterion resolution of 494(45) nm. Our results pave the way for applications of the magnetic quadrupole transition as an optical qubit and for single-site addressing in optical lattices.