Lifetime measurement of the metastable 4d^2D~5~/~2 state in ^8^8Sr^+ using a single trapped ion (8 pages)

Andrea Orbán, P. Reinhed, J.G. Werner +9 more

Ch. Gerz, Th. Hilberath, Günther Werth

Martina Knoop, C. Champenois, G. Hagel +4 more

Nan Yu, Lute Maleki

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.

V. Letchumanan, M. A. Wilson, Patrick Robert Gill +1 more

The natural lifetime of the metastable $4d\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{2}D_{5∕2}$ state in $^{88}\mathrm{Sr}^{+}$ has been measured using a single laser-cooled, trapped ion. The ion was prepared in the $4d\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{2}D_{5∕2}$ state by laser excitation of the $5s\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{2}S_{1∕2}\ensuremath{-}4d\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{2}D_{5∕2}$ quadrupole transition at 674 nm. The decay time was measured by using Dehmelt's electron shelving method to monitor the ion's electronic state. Two separate investigations were conducted under slightly different experimental conditions. 160 000 decay times from the $4d\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{2}D_{5∕2}$ state were observed in total, and two different methods for determining the statistical value of the measured lifetime have been compared. Systematic effects have also been estimated, and including these effects yields a value of $\ensuremath{\tau}=390.8(1.6)\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{ms}$ ($1\ensuremath{\sigma}$ uncertainty) for the natural lifetime.

Alan A. Madej, J. D. Sankey

A single Sr+ atom was confined in a radio-frequency quadrupole trap and laser cooled with resonant laser light. Examination of the transition Doppler profile indicated an ion kinetic temperature of less than 500 mK. Quantum jumps into and out of the metastable 4d(2)D(5/2) level were observed by laser excitation on the electric-quadrupole-allowed transition from the ground state at 674 nm. The dark and bright periods in the strong fluorescence showed variations owing to the applied driving field on the electric-quadrupole transition. These results provide an improved determination of tau = 372 +/- 25 msec for the natural metastable-state lifetime.