Optics Letters

Efficient cooling and trapping of strontium atoms

Irène Ventrillard, Audrey Quessada, Richard P. Kovacich, J.‐J. Zondy, Arnaud Landragin, Andr Clairon, P. Lemonde

Published Mar 15, 2003• 48 citations

Abstract

We report the capture of cold strontium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) at a rate of 4 x 10(10) atoms/s. The MOT is loaded from an atomic beam decelerated by a Zeeman slower operating with a focused laser beam. The 461-nm laser, used for both cooling and trapping, was generated by sum-frequency mixing in a KTP crystal with diode lasers at 813 nm and a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. As much as 115 mW of blue light was obtained.

DOI: 10.1364/ol.28.000468

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