Optical Clocks Based on Highly Charged Ions for Tests of Fundamental Physics and Improved Frequency Standards

Optical clocks based on highly charged ions (HCIs) offer a number of promising avenues for the study of physics beyond the standard model. Among these are searches for time variation of the fine structure constant, α?/α, and tests of quantum electrodynamics (QED). Due to level crossings occurring in high charge states, narrow linewidth, optically accessible transitions with a high sensitivity to α?/α are predicted in both Nd¹⁰⁺ and Pr¹⁰⁺. We demonstrate a compact electron beam ion trap (EBIT) capable of producing these ions and our plans to transfer them into a cryogenic Paul trap where they will be co-trapped with Be⁺ for sympathic cooling and quantum-logic spectroscopy (QLS). In addition, we present an update on the development of a Ba⁴⁺ source and quantum-logic clock as an improved optical frequency standard.