Physical Review A

Ion-recoil energy measurement in photoionization of laser-cooled rubidium

Steffen Wolf, Hanspeter Helm

Published Dec 1, 1997• 27 citations

Abstract

We report a measurement of the ion recoil energy in photoionization of laser-cooled atoms. ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb},$ cooled in a magneto-optical trap, is two-photon ionized by a pulsed laser. The recoil energy is determined by time-of-flight in a weak electric field. A resolution in the range of 1 \ensuremath{\mu}eV is demonstrated. Refinement of the technique promises resolution in the range of several neV to be feasible.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.56.r4385

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Physical Review A

Ion-recoil energy measurement in photoionization of laser-cooled rubidium

Steffen Wolf, Hanspeter Helm

Published Dec 1, 1997• 27 citations

Publisher

Abstract

We report a measurement of the ion recoil energy in photoionization of laser-cooled atoms.

{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb},

cooled in a magneto-optical trap, is two-photon ionized by a pulsed laser. The recoil energy is determined by time-of-flight in a weak electric field. A resolution in the range of 1 \ensuremath{\mu}eV is demonstrated. Refinement of the technique promises resolution in the range of several neV to be feasible.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.56.r4385

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Steffen Wolf, Hanspeter Helm

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Resonance-enhanced ionization spectroscopy of laser-cooled rubidium atoms

C. Gabbanini, F. Ceccherini, Silvia Gozzini +1 more

Measurement Science and TechnologyJul 27, 19995 citations

We report a measurement of the ion recoil energy in photoionization of laser-cooled atoms.

{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb},

We report an experiment on recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy of

{\mathrm{Rb}}^{+}

ions formed by two-photon ionization of

{\mathrm{Rb}}^{2}{P}_{3/2}

at 790 nm. Laser-cooled atoms in a magneto-optic trap are used as the target in time-of-flight analysis of the recoil momentum. We demonstrate a resolution of 1 \ensuremath{\mu}eV with a limiting momentum resolution below $\ensuremath{\delta}p=0.05$ a.u. We also show the use of the photoionization technique for the characterization of cold atomic samples.

10^7

atoms/cm

^3

10^8

atoms/cm

^3

, and

10^9

atoms/cm

^3

, respectively. The density profile and the temperature of 3D MOT are characterized using the absorption imaging and photoionization. The momentum distributions of Rb

^+

created by absorption of two- or three-photon illuminate a dipole-like double-peak structure, in good agreement with the results in the strong field approximation. The yielding momentum resolution of

0.12 \pm 0.03

a.u. is achieved in comparison with theoretical calculations, exhibiting the great prospects for the study of electron correlations in alkali metal atoms through interaction with strong laser pulses.

Photoionization of rubidium atoms cooled in a magneto-optical trap, characterized by the coexistence of the ground

5{S}_{1/2}

and excited

5{P}_{3/2}

states, is investigated experimentally and theoretically with the 400-nm femtosecond laser pulses at intensities of $I=(3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9})\text{--}(4.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{12})$

\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}

. The recoil-ion momentum distribution (RIMD) of

{\mathrm{Rb}}^{+}

exhibits rich ringlike structures and their energies correspond to one-photon ionization of the

5{P}_{3/2}

state and two-photon and three-photon ionizations of the

5{S}_{1/2}

state, respectively. With increasing

I

, the dips near zero momentum (NZM) in the experimental RIMDs become shallow dramatically and their peaked

{\mathrm{Rb}}^{+}

momenta ionized from the

5{P}_{3/2}

state move obviously toward zero while the peaks from the

5{S}_{1/2}

state do not shift. In addition, the ion-yield ratio of the

5{S}_{1/2}

state to the

5{P}_{3/2}

state varies from

I

{I}^{1.5}

I

increases. These features indicate a transition from perturbative ionization to strongly perturbative ionization for the

5{P}_{3/2}

state. Numerical simulations by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation (TDSE) can qualitatively explain the measurements of the RIMD, photoion angular distributions, and ion-yield ratio. However, some discrepancies still exist, especially for the NZM dip, which could stem from the electron-electron correlation that is neglected in the present TDSE simulations since we have adopted the single-active-electron approximation.