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arXiv:1312.4117 · AIP Advances

Precision measurement of transverse velocity distribution of a strontium atomic beam

Fan Gao, Hui Liu, Peng Xu, Xin Na Tian, Y. Wang, J. Ren, Haibin Wu, Hong Chang

Published Feb 1, 2014• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We measure the transverse velocity distribution in a thermal Sr atomic beam precisely by velocity-selective saturated fluorescence spectroscopy. The use of an ultrastable laser system and the narrow intercombination transition line of Sr atoms mean that the resolution of the measured velocity can reach 0.13 m/s, corresponding to 90 μK in energy units. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations. Based on the spectroscopic techniques used here, the absolute frequency of the intercombination transition of 88Sr is measured using an optical-frequency comb generator referenced to the SI second through an H maser, and is given as 434 829 121 318(10) kHz.

DOI
10.1063/1.4866983

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We report on our progress toward the realization of an optical frequency standard referenced to strontium intercombination lines. While first frequency measurement of the weakly allowed 1S 0- 3P 1 transition was done with saturation spectroscopy on a thermal beam, we are preparing the experimental setup for high resolution spectroscopy on ultracold atoms of the doubly forbidden 1S 0- 3P 0 line. Our current setup allows the capture more than 10 7 atoms at 1 μK in 500 ms in two stages of magneto-optical trapping. We also demonstrated the dipole trapping of ultracold strontium isotopes for accurate spectroscopy and collisional measurements. A semiconductor laser source at 698 nm has already been locked to a pre-stabilization cavity obtaining a fast linewidth of less than 1 kHz. Second stage stabilization of the clock laser to ultra-high finesse cavity is in development. Recent measurement of elastic and inelastic cross-sections of the two most abundant 88Sr and 86Sr isotopes are also presented.

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arXiv:2501.02999•Physical Review A•Oct 3, 2024•2 citations
We measure the transverse velocity distribution in a thermal Sr atomic beam precisely by velocity-selective saturated fluorescence spectroscopy. The use of an ultrastable laser system and the narrow intercombination transition line of Sr atoms mean that the resolution of the measured velocity can reach 0.13 m/s, corresponding to 90 μK in energy units. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations. Based on the spectroscopic techniques used here, the absolute frequency of the intercombination transition of 88Sr is measured using an optical-frequency comb generator referenced to the SI second through an H maser, and is given as 434 829 121 318(10) kHz.
We report on our progress toward the realization of an optical frequency standard referenced to strontium intercombination lines. While first frequency measurement of the weakly allowed 1S 0- 3P 1 transition was done with saturation spectroscopy on a thermal beam, we are preparing the experimental setup for high resolution spectroscopy on ultracold atoms of the doubly forbidden 1S 0- 3P 0 line. Our current setup allows the capture more than 10 7 atoms at 1 μK in 500 ms in two stages of magneto-optical trapping. We also demonstrated the dipole trapping of ultracold strontium isotopes for accurate spectroscopy and collisional measurements. A semiconductor laser source at 698 nm has already been locked to a pre-stabilization cavity obtaining a fast linewidth of less than 1 kHz. Second stage stabilization of the clock laser to ultra-high finesse cavity is in development. Recent measurement of elastic and inelastic cross-sections of the two most abundant 88Sr and 86Sr isotopes are also presented.
We observe the fluorescence and the saturated fluorescence spectra of (5s2)1S0(5s5p)3P1 intercombination transition of thermal strontium atomic beam. Experimental investigation of 88Sr(5s2)1S0(5s5p)3P1 intercombination transition is performed on the different experimental conditions. Our study indicates that experimental parameters affect spectra largely, including temperature, intensity of laser and scanning frequency of laser. Intensity of spectrum is reciprocal of scanning frequency of laser due to long lifetime of (5s5p)3P1 state of Sr atom. Owing to Doppler broadening, transit broadening and other experimental factors, the linewidth of (5s2)1S0(5s5p)3P1 fluorescence spectrum is far more than its natural linewidth and proportional scanning frequency of laser.
Abstract We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7 kHz wide 689 nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability ∼2 × 10 −12 at 1s limited by technical noise—about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.
We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7-kHz-wide 689-nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a fractional frequency instability ∼2×10−12\sim 2 \times 10^{-12}∼2×10−12 at 1 s limited by technical noise - about one order of magnitude above shot noise limitations for our experimental parameters. Our work illustrates the robustness and flexibility of a scheme that can be very easily implemented in the reference cells or ovens of most existing strontium experiments, and may find applications for low-complexity clocks.
Precision spectroscopic measurements in atoms and molecules play an increasingly important role in chemistry and physics, e.g., to characterize structure and dynamics at long timescales, to determine physical constants, or to search for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. In this paper, we demonstrate the combination of Zeeman deceleration and transverse laser cooling to generate slow (mean velocity of 175 m/s) and transversely ultracold (${T}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}\ensuremath{\approx}135\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\textmu{}\mathrm{K}$) supersonic beams of metastable (1s)(2s)3S1(1s)(2s)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{3}S_{1}(1s)(2s)3S1​ He (He∗{\mathrm{He}}^{*}He∗) for precision spectroscopy. The curved-wavefront laser-cooling approach is used to achieve large capture velocities and high He∗{\mathrm{He}}^{*}He∗ number densities. The beam properties are characterized by imaging, time-of-flight, and high-resolution spectroscopic methods, and the factors limiting the Doppler widths in single-photon spectroscopic measurements of the $(1s)(40p)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{3}P_{J}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\leftarrow}(1s)(2s)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{3}S_{1}$ transition at UV frequencies around $1.15\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{15}$ Hz are analyzed. In particular, the use of skimmers to geometrically confine the beam in the transverse directions is examined and shown to not always lead to a reduction of the Doppler width. Linewidths as narrow as 5 MHz could be obtained, enabling the determination of line centers with a precision of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\nu}/\ensuremath{\nu}$ of $4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ limited by the signal-to-noise ratio. Numerical particle-trajectory simulations are used to interpret the experimental observations and validate the conclusions.