Phase-sensitive cyclotron frequency measurements at ultralow energies.

A novel technique for a direct and coherent measurement of the modified cyclotron frequency of an ion in a Penning trap at energies close to the thermal cooling limit is presented. This allows a rapid and both precise and accurate determination of the free-space cyclotron frequency in real Penning traps despite the existence of electric and magnetic field imperfections and relativistic shifts. The demonstrated performance paves the way for considerably improved bound-state g-factor measurements on the 10 ppt level and mass measurements in the 1 ppt range and possibly below.