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Physical Review A

Magneto-optical trapping of metastable xenon: Isotope-shift measurements

M. Walhout, Henry J. L. Megens, A. Witte, S. L. Rolston

Published Aug 1, 1993• 70 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have magneto-optically trapped the nine stable isotopes of xenon. Using the Zeeman slowing method to decelerate a beam of xenon atoms in the metastable 6s 3/2 [3/2${]}_{2}$ state (notation representing nl ${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{core}}$ [K=${\mathit{J}}_{\mathrm{core}}$+l${]}_{\mathit{J}}$), we load our trap to a collisionally limited density of more than ${10}^{10}$ atoms/${\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$. The two odd isotopes are trapped without a repumping frequency, even though they have hyperfine structure. The sensitivity of the trapping process to the laser frequency is exploited to make accurate measurements of the isotope shifts for the 6s 3/2 [3/2${]}_{2}$\ensuremath{\rightarrow}6p 3/2 [5/2${]}_{3}$ laser-cooling transition and of the hyperfine constants for $^{131}\mathrm{Xe}$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.48.r879

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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.
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We report on magneto-optical trapping of the two fermionic isotopes of atomic titanium, 47^{47}47Ti and 49^{49}49Ti. Unlike the even mass-number isotopes, which were recently laser cooled, 47^{47}47Ti and 49^{49}49Ti have nonzero nuclear spins and, consequently, their atomic levels are split by hyperfine structure. Combining and comparing theoretical calculations and atomic beam-spectroscopy measurements, we determine the hyperfine structures and isotope shifts of the 3d24s2\mathrm{3d^24s^2}3d24s2 a3F4→3d2(3P)4s4p(3Po)\mathrm{a^3F_4\rightarrow 3d^2(^3P)4s4p(^3P^o)}a3F4​→3d2(3P)4s4p(3Po) y5D4o\mathrm{y^5D_4^o}y5D4o​ optical-pumping transition at optical wavelength 391nm and the 3d3(4F)4s\mathrm{3d^3(^4F)4s}3d3(4F)4s a5F5→3d3(4F)4p\mathrm{a^5F_5\rightarrow 3d^3(^4F)4p}a5F5​→3d3(4F)4p y5G6o\mathrm{y^5G_6^o}y5G6o​ laser-cooling transition at wavelength 498nm. With this information, we produce magneto-optical traps of both 47^{47}47Ti and 49^{49}49Ti by applying two additional tones of light to repump atoms to the maximum-spin states on the laser-cooling transition. Directly loading from the atomic flux of a titanium sublimation pump, we produce 47^{47}47Ti and 49^{49}49Ti traps with 731(190) and 1142(240) atoms, and with lifetimes of 330(15)ms and 310(8)ms, respectively.
We report the measurement of one-body loss rates for magnetically trapped metastable europium atoms and the study of their loss mechanism. The loss of atoms observed in a magneto-optical trap is not fully understood because of the indivisibility of the loss regarding optical pumpings due to the presence of cooling laser beams. We magnetically trap the atoms by directly loading from the magneto-optical trap and observe almost identical one-body loss rates of approximately 2.6 s−12.6\,\mathrm{s^{-1}}2.6s−1 for two isotopes: 151Eu\mathrm{{}^{151}Eu}151Eu and 153Eu\mathrm{{}^{153}Eu}153Eu. Our rate-equation-based model, combined with loss rate measurements carried out with repumpers, shows that blackbody radiation at room temperature drives E1 transitions and induces the observed losses.