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Physical Review A

Tune-out wavelengths for metastable helium

Jim Mitroy, Li-Yan Tang

Published Nov 20, 2013• 43 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The six longest tune-out wavelengths for the He($1s2s{\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}}^{3}{S}_{1}^{e}$) metastable state are determined by explicit calculation. The tune-out wavelength at 413.02 nm is expected to be sensitive to finite mass, relativistic, and quantum electrodynamic effects upon the transition matrix elements and its measurement would provide a nonenergy test of fundamental atomic structure theory.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.052515

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The workhorse of atomic physics, quantum electrodynamics, is one of the best-tested theories in physics. However recent discrepancies have shed doubt on its accuracy for complex atomic systems. To facilitate the development of the theory further we aim to measure transition dipole matrix elements of metastable helium (He*) (the ideal 3 body test-bed) to the highest accuracy thus far. We have undertaken a measurement of the `tune-out wavelength' which occurs when the contributions to the dynamic polarizability from all atomic transitions sum to zero; thus illuminating an atom with this wavelength of light then produces no net energy shift. This provides a strict constraint on the transition dipole matrix elements without the complication and inaccuracy of other methods. Using a novel atom-laser based technique we have made the first measurement of the tune-out wavelength in metastable helium between the $3^{3}P_{1,2,3}$ and $2^{3}P_{1,2,3}$ states at 413.07(2) nm which compares well with the predicted value\cite{Mitroy2013} of 413.02(9) nm. We have additionally developed many of the methods necessary to improve this measurement to the 100 fm level of accuracy where it will form the most accurate determination of transition rate information ever made in He* and provide a stringent test for atomic QED simulations. We believe this measurement to be one of the most sensitive ever made of an optical dipole potential, able to detect changes in potentials of $\sim$200 pK and is widely applicable to other species and areas of atom optics.

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Exited atoms may relax to the ground state by radiative decay, a process which is usually very fast (of order nanoseconds). However, quantum-mechanical selection rules can prevent such rapid decay, in which case these "metastable" states can have lifetimes of order seconds or longer. In this Letter, we determine experimentally the lifetime of the longest-lived neutral atomic state-the first excited state of helium (the 2(3)S1 metastable state)-to the highest accuracy yet measured. We use laser cooling and magnetic trapping to isolate a cloud of metastable helium (He*) atoms from their surrounding environment, and measure the decay rate to the ground 1(1)S0 state via extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon emission. This is the first measurement using a virtually unperturbed ensemble of isolated helium atoms, and yields a value of 7870(510) seconds, in excellent agreement with the predictions of quantum electrodynamic theory.

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The six longest tune-out wavelengths for the He(1s2s3S1e1s2s{\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}}^{3}{S}_{1}^{e}1s2s3S1e​) metastable state are determined by explicit calculation. The tune-out wavelength at 413.02 nm is expected to be sensitive to finite mass, relativistic, and quantum electrodynamic effects upon the transition matrix elements and its measurement would provide a nonenergy test of fundamental atomic structure theory.
The First Measurement of the 23S1→33P−23P2^{3}S_{1} \rightarrow 3^{3}P - 2^{3}P23S1​→33P−23P Tune-Out Wavelength in He*
The workhorse of atomic physics, quantum electrodynamics, is one of the best-tested theories in physics. However recent discrepancies have shed doubt on its accuracy for complex atomic systems. To facilitate the development of the theory further we aim to measure transition dipole matrix elements of metastable helium (He*) (the ideal 3 body test-bed) to the highest accuracy thus far. We have undertaken a measurement of the `tune-out wavelength' which occurs when the contributions to the dynamic polarizability from all atomic transitions sum to zero; thus illuminating an atom with this wavelength of light then produces no net energy shift. This provides a strict constraint on the transition dipole matrix elements without the complication and inaccuracy of other methods. Using a novel atom-laser based technique we have made the first measurement of the tune-out wavelength in metastable helium between the 33P1,2,33^{3}P_{1,2,3}33P1,2,3​ and 23P1,2,32^{3}P_{1,2,3}23P1,2,3​ states at 413.07(2) nm which compares well with the predicted value\cite{Mitroy2013} of 413.02(9) nm. We have additionally developed many of the methods necessary to improve this measurement to the 100 fm level of accuracy where it will form the most accurate determination of transition rate information ever made in He* and provide a stringent test for atomic QED simulations. We believe this measurement to be one of the most sensitive ever made of an optical dipole potential, able to detect changes in potentials of $\sim$200 pK and is widely applicable to other species and areas of atom optics.
The First Measurement of the 23 ⁣S1−23 ⁣P/33 ⁣P2^{3\!}S_1 - 2^{3\!}P / 3^{3\!}P23S1​−23P/33P Tune-Out Wavelength in He*
The workhorse of atomic physics, quantum electrodynamics, is one of the best-tested theories in physics. However recent discrepancies have shed doubt on its accuracy for complex atomic systems. To facilitate the development of the theory further we aim to measure transition dipole matrix elements of metastable helium (He*) (the ideal 3 body test-bed) to the highest accuracy thus far. We have undertaken a measurement of the `tune-out wavelength' which occurs when the contributions to the dynamic polarizability from all atomic transitions sum to zero; thus illuminating an atom with this wavelength of light then produces no net energy shift. This provides a strict constraint on the transition dipole matrix elements without the complication and inaccuracy of other methods. Using a novel atom-laser based technique we have made the first measurement of the tune-out wavelength in metastable helium between the 33P1,2,33^{3}P_{1,2,3}33P1,2,3​ and 23P1,2,32^{3}P_{1,2,3}23P1,2,3​ states at 413.07(2) nm which compares well with the predicted value [PhysRevA.88.052515] of 413.02(9) nm. We have additionally developed many of the methods necessary to improve this measurement to the 100 fm level of accuracy where it will form the most accurate determination of transition rate information ever made in He* and provide a stringent test for atomic QED simulations. We believe this measurement to be one of the most sensitive ever made of an optical dipole potential, able to detect changes in potentials of $\sim$200 pK and is widely applicable to other species and areas of atom optics.
A series of magic wavelengths for the forbidden transition of $2{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{S}_{1}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{P}_{1}$ in helium are determined by performing large-scale full relativistic configuration interaction calculations based on Dirac-Coulomb-Breit Hamiltonian with the mass shift operator included. QED corrections to magic wavelengths are taken into account by using the perturbation theory in nonrelativistic configuration interaction calculations. The 1335.55(2)-nm magic wavelength for the $2{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{3}{S}_{1}(M=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}2{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{P}_{1}(M=0)$ transition is found to be sensitive to the finite nuclear mass, relativistic, and QED effects, and its measurement might provide a test of atomic structure theory.
The lowest three tune-out wavelengths of the four alkaline-earth-metal atoms Be, Mg, Ca, and Sr are determined from tabulations of matrix elements produced from large first-principles calculations. The tune-out wavelengths are located near the wavelengths for the 3P1o{}^{3}{P}_{1}^{o}3P1o​ and 1P1o{}^{1}{P}_{1}^{o}1P1o​ excitations. The measurement of the tune-out wavelengths could be used to establish a quantitative relationship between the oscillator strength of the transition leading to existence of the tune-out wavelength and the dynamic polarizability of the atom at the tune-out frequency. The longest tune-out wavelengths for Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and Yb are 454.9813, 457.2372, 657.446, 689.200, 788.875, and 553.00 nm, respectively.
A series of magic wavelengths for the 23S1 → 23PJ (J = 0, 1, 2) transitions in helium is determined with high precision using the relativistic configuration interaction combined with the radiative potential method. The calculation explicitly incorporates relativistic, finite nuclear mass, and quantum electrodynamic corrections through the inclusion of mass shift and radiative potential operators into the Dirac-Coulomb-Breit Hamiltonian. The resulting magic wavelengths lie entirely within the visible spectrum (400-700 nm) and converge to seven significant digits, making them directly accessible for experimental verification. These accurate predictions serve as benchmarks for testing atomic structure theory and support the development of state-insensitive optical trapping schemes in precision spectroscopy.
Exited atoms may relax to the ground state by radiative decay, a process which is usually very fast (of order nanoseconds). However, quantum-mechanical selection rules can prevent such rapid decay, in which case these "metastable" states can have lifetimes of order seconds or longer. In this Letter, we determine experimentally the lifetime of the longest-lived neutral atomic state-the first excited state of helium (the 2(3)S1 metastable state)-to the highest accuracy yet measured. We use laser cooling and magnetic trapping to isolate a cloud of metastable helium (He*) atoms from their surrounding environment, and measure the decay rate to the ground 1(1)S0 state via extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon emission. This is the first measurement using a virtually unperturbed ensemble of isolated helium atoms, and yields a value of 7870(510) seconds, in excellent agreement with the predictions of quantum electrodynamic theory.