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Chinese Physics Letters

Magneto-Optical Trapping of Ytterbium Atoms with a 398.9 nm Laser

Zhao Peng-Yi, Xiong Zhuan-Xian, Jie Liang, Lingxiang He, Baolong Lü

Published Oct 1, 2008• 16 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the realization of ytterbium magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the dipole-allowed 1 S 0 — 1 P 1 transition at 398.9 nm. The MOT is loaded by a slowed atomic beam produced by a Zeeman slower. All seven stable isotopes of Yb atoms could be trapped separately at different laser detuning values. Over 10 7 174 Yb atoms are collected in the MOT, whereas the atom number of fermionic isotope 171 Yb is roughly 2.3 × 10 6 due to a lower abundance. Without the Zeeman slower, the trapped atom numbers are one order of magnitude lower. Both the even and odd isotopes are recognized as excellent candidates of optical clock transition, so the cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms by the blue MOT is an important step for building an optical clock.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/25/10/030

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We report the realization of ytterbium magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the dipole-allowed 1 S 0 — 1 P 1 transition at 398.9 nm. The MOT is loaded by a slowed atomic beam produced by a Zeeman slower. All seven stable isotopes of Yb atoms could be trapped separately at different laser detuning values. Over 10 7 174 Yb atoms are collected in the MOT, whereas the atom number of fermionic isotope 171 Yb is roughly 2.3 × 10 6 due to a lower abundance. Without the Zeeman slower, the trapped atom numbers are one order of magnitude lower. Both the even and odd isotopes are recognized as excellent candidates of optical clock transition, so the cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms by the blue MOT is an important step for building an optical clock.
We report the experimental realization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of 174 Yb atoms operating on the 1 So− 3 P 1 intercombination transition at 555.8 nm. The green MOT is loaded by a Zeeman-slowed atomic beam. In order to increase the capture velocity of the MOT, we use the trapping laser beams consisting of five discrete frequency components obtained by modulating the laser light through an electro-optic modulator. The trapped atomic number of the 174 Yb isotope is about 6.2 × 10 5 , and the temperature of the cold atomic cloud is estimated to be about 100 μK. The success of the green MOT is an important step towards the goal of an ytterbium optical clock.
We report the magneto-optical trapping of ytterbium atoms using the 6s2 1S0-6s6p 3P1 intercombination transition. The magneto-optical trap is continuously loaded from an atomic beam decelerated by a Zeeman-tuned atomic-beam slower operated at the 6s2 1S0-6s6p 1P1 transition. Among seven stable isotopes of ytterbium, six isotopes of 170Yb, 171Yb, 172Yb, 173Yb, 174Yb, and 176Yb are successfully trapped. The number and density of the trapped atoms are about 108 and 1011 cm-3, respectively. The temperature of atoms is estimated to be about 20 μK from the time-of-flight measurement. The decay time of the trapped atoms after stopping the loading of atoms is about 3 s.
We report the magneto-optical trapping of ytterbium atoms using the ${6s}^{2}{}^{1}{S}_{0}\ensuremath{-}6s6p{}^{3}{P}_{1}$ intercombination transition. The magneto-optical trap is continuously loaded from an atomic beam decelerated by a Zeeman-tuned atomic-beam slower operated at the ${6s}^{2}{}^{1}{S}_{0}\ensuremath{-}6s6p{}^{1}{P}_{1}$ transition. Among seven stable isotopes of ytterbium, six isotopes of170Yb,\mathrm{of}{ }^{170}\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{b},of170Yb, 171Yb,{}^{171}\mathrm{Yb},171Yb, 172Yb,{}^{172}\mathrm{Yb},172Yb, 173Yb,{}^{173}\mathrm{Yb},173Yb, 174Yb,{}^{174}\mathrm{Yb},174Yb, and 176Yb{}^{176}\mathrm{Yb}176Yb are successfully trapped. The number and density of the trapped atoms are about 108{10}^{8}108 and ${10}^{11} {\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3},$ respectively. The temperature of atoms is estimated to be about $20 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ from the time-of-flight measurement. The decay time of the trapped atoms after stopping the loading of atoms is about 3 s.
We present an experimental setup to laser cool and trap a large number of ytterbium atoms. Our design uses an oven with an array of micro-tubes for efficient collimation of the atomic beam, and we implement a magneto-optical trap of 174Yb on the 1S0 → 1P1 transition at 399 nm. Despite the absence of a Zeeman slower, we obtain a loading of 4 × 109 at./s. We trap up to N = 109 at., where light-assisted collisions become the dominant loss mechanism. We precisely characterize our atomic beam, the loading rate of the magneto-optical trap, and several loss mechanisms relevant for trapping a large number of atoms.
The laser cooling of ytterbium (Yb) atoms needs a 399-nm laser which operates on the strong 1 S0 -1 P1 transition and can be locked at the desired frequencies for different Yb isotopes.We demonstrate a frequency locking method using the fluorescence spectrum of an Yb atomic beam as a frequency reference.For unresolved fluorescence peaks, we make the spectrum of the even isotopes vanish by using the strong angular-dependence of the fluorescence radiations; the remained closely-spaced peaks are thus clearly resolved and able to serve as accurate frequency references.A computer-controlled servo system is used to lock the laser frequency to a single fluorescence peak of interest, and a frequency stability of 304 kHz is achieved.This frequency-locked laser enables us to realize stable blue magneto-optic-traps (MOT) for all abundant Yb isotopes.