Near-recoil-limited temperatures obtained by laser trapping on the narrow /sup 1/S/sub 0/-/sup 3/P/sub 1/ intercombination transition of neutral strontium
Kurt R. Vogel, T. Dinneen, Alan C. Gallagher +1 more
About 2/spl times/10/sup 7/ neutral strontium atoms have been loaded into a magneto-optical trap (MOT) that uses the narrow (/spl Gamma/=2/spl pi/ 7 kHz) intercombination line at 689 nm as the cycling transition. The atoms are second-stage laser cooled to /spl sim/10 /spl mu/K from an initial 5 mK atomic sample (/spl sim/5/spl times/10/sup 7/ atoms), generated in a vapor cell MOT that employs the strong (/spl Gamma/=2/spl pi/ 32 MHz) cycling transition at 461 nm. To demonstrate the low temperatures of these atoms, optical Ramsey spectroscopy is performed upon the /sup 1/S/sub 0/-/sup 3/P/sub 1/ transition using only two excitation pulses; the time dependence of the fringe contrast indicates an RMS velocity of 3 cm/s for the 689 nm MOT-cooled sample.
Joint Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum and IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFCS)•Jan 22, 2003•1 citation