Measurement of the Two-Loop Lamb Shift in Lithiumlike U

Abstract

Using the SuperEBIT electron beam ion trap we have measured the 2s{sub 1/2}-2p{sub 1/2} transitions in U{sup 88+} and U{sup 89+}. The value of 280.645 {+-} 0.015 eV for Li-like U{sup 89+} improves the available precision by nearly an order of magnitude and establishes a new benchmark for testing QED, including higher-order contributions, within a fractional accuracy of better than 3 x 10{sup -4}. From our measurement, we infer a value for both the 2s and 1s two-loop Lamb shift, yielding excellent agreement with recent calculations of the 1.26 eV 1s two-loop Lamb shift in U{sup 91+}