arXiv:0906.0586 · Physical Review A

Measurement of the lifetime of the 6p P21/2o level of Yb+

Steven Olmschenk, David Hayes, Dzmitry Matsukevich, Peter Maunz, David L. Moehring, Kelly Cooper Younge, Christopher R. Monroe

Published Aug 10, 2009• 57 citations

arXiv HTML PDF

Abstract

We present a precise measurement of the lifetime of the $6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}$ excited state of a single trapped ytterbium ion $({\text{Yb}}^{+})$. A time-correlated single-photon counting technique is used, where ultrafast pulses excite the ion and the emitted photons are coupled into a single-mode optical fiber. By performing the measurement on a single atom with fast excitation and excellent spatial filtering, we are able to eliminate common systematics. The lifetime of the $6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}$ state is measured to be $8.12\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02\text{ }\text{ns}$, in good agreement with previous experimental measurements and some theoretical values.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.80.022502

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arXiv:0906.0586 · Physical Review A

Measurement of the lifetime of the 6p P21/2o level of Yb+

Steven Olmschenk, David Hayes, Dzmitry Matsukevich, Peter Maunz, David L. Moehring, Kelly Cooper Younge, Christopher R. Monroe

Published Aug 10, 2009• 57 citations

arXiv HTML PDF

Abstract

We present a precise measurement of the lifetime of the

6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}

excited state of a single trapped ytterbium ion

({\text{Yb}}^{+})

. A time-correlated single-photon counting technique is used, where ultrafast pulses excite the ion and the emitted photons are coupled into a single-mode optical fiber. By performing the measurement on a single atom with fast excitation and excellent spatial filtering, we are able to eliminate common systematics. The lifetime of the

6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}

state is measured to be

8.12\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02\text{ }\text{ns}

, in good agreement with previous experimental measurements and some theoretical values.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.80.022502

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We present the first measurement of an atomic radiative lifetime in Fr. We use a time-correlated single photon counting technique with a cold sample of ${}^{210}\mathrm{Fr}$ atoms in a magneto-optic trap. The results are a precision experimental test of the atomic many-body perturbation theory applied to the heaviest alkali. The lifetime for the $7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ level of $21.02(16)$ ns gives a value for the reduced transition matrix element between the levels $7s{}^{2}{S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ of $5.898(22){a}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}$ atomic units.We present the first measurement of an atomic radiative lifetime in Fr. We use a time-correlated single photon counting technique with a cold sample of ${}^{210}\mathrm{Fr}$ atoms in a magneto-optic trap. The results are a precision experimental test of the atomic many-body perturbation theory applied to the heaviest alkali. The lifetime for the $7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ level of $21.02(16)$ ns gives a value for the reduced transition matrix element between the levels $7s{}^{2}{S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ of $5.898(22){a}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}$ atomic units.

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We present a precise measurement of the lifetime of the

6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}

excited state of a single trapped ytterbium ion

({\text{Yb}}^{+})

6p\text{ }{^{2}P}_{1/2}^{o}

state is measured to be

8.12\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02\text{ }\text{ns}

, in good agreement with previous experimental measurements and some theoretical values.

We present a method to precisely determine the

^{2}D_{3/2}

state lifetime of a single trapped

^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^{+}

ion. This method is based on the detection of photons emitted from excited states, where a highly synchronized measurement sequence for laser control and an intensity-alternating sequence for atomic excitation and photon counting are used to minimize systematic errors. This method is easy to implement and is immune to fluctuations of magnetic field, laser intensity, and frequency detuning. Combined with the real-time approach of background photon correction, the radiative lifetime of the

^{2}D_{3/2}

state is determined to be $54.83\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.18$ ms, which represents an order of magnitude improvement in measurement precision. The accurately determined lifetime sets a benchmark for many-body atomic theories and is particularly useful to determine the coherence time limit of the optical clock.

The ytterbium ion has a rich level structure of low-lying states, and is one of the most widely used in experiments with trapped ions. We have measured the radiative lifetimes for the two

{4f}^{14}5d

metastable states using single ytterbium ions confined in a rf trap. The obtained lifetimes for

{D}_{3/2}

and

{D}_{5/2}

states are 52.7(2.4) and 7.0(0.4) ms, respectively. The results are in good agreement with previously measured values, but differ significantly from theoretical estimates. The

{P}_{1/2}

branching ratio into

{D}_{3/2}

has also been obtained from the experiment to be 0.0483 with a 9% uncertainty.

We present lifetime measurements of the

{7p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}

and

{7p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}

levels of Fr. We use a time-correlated single-photon counting technique on a cold sample of

{}^{210}\mathrm{Fr}

atoms in a magneto-optic trap. We excite the atoms with the trapping and repumping beams of the magneto-optic trap and detect the decay of the atomic fluorescence. The results are a precision experimental test of the atomic many-body perturbation theory applied to the heaviest alkali metal. The lifetime results are 21.02(11) ns and 29.45(11) ns for the

{7p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}

and

{7p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}

levels, respectively. This gives a line strength ratio

{\mathcal{S}}_{1/2}

{\mathcal{S}}_{3/2}

of 0.526(3) for these levels in Fr. To study sources of systematic errors we measure the lifetimes of

{5p}^{2}{P}_{3/2}

and

{5p}^{2}{P}_{1/2}

in stable

{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}

and obtain 26.20(9) ns and 27.64(4) ns, respectively.

We present a lifetime measurement of the

6s

level of rubidium. We use a time-correlated single-photon counting technique on two different samples of rubidium atoms, a vapor cell with variable rubidium density, and a sample of atoms confined and cooled in a magneto-optical trap. The

5{P}_{1∕2}

level serves as the resonant intermediate step for the two-step excitation to the

6s

level. We detect the decay of the

6s

level through the cascade fluorescence of the

5{P}_{3∕2}

level at 780 nm. The two samples have different systematic effects, but we obtain consistent results that averaged give a lifetime of $45.57\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.17\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ns}$.

We present the first measurement of an atomic radiative lifetime in Fr. We use a time-correlated single photon counting technique with a cold sample of

{}^{210}\mathrm{Fr}

atoms in a magneto-optic trap. The results are a precision experimental test of the atomic many-body perturbation theory applied to the heaviest alkali. The lifetime for the

7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}

level of

21.02(16)

ns gives a value for the reduced transition matrix element between the levels $7s{}^{2}{S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}7p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}$ of $5.898(22){a}_{\ensuremath{\infty}}$ atomic units.