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Physical Review A

Probing magneto-optic trap dynamics through weak excitation of a coupled narrow-linewidth transition

Thomas H. Loftus, Jason R. Bochinski, THOMAS W. MOSSBERG

Published May 2, 2000• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Alkaline-earth-like atoms possess singlet and triplet manifolds coupled through the ground state. The weak and hence narrow linewidth intercombination transition can provide a powerful probe of singlet-singlet magneto-optic trap (MOT) dynamics. We demonstrate in situ probing of an ytterbium MOT and discuss how cloud position, size, and temperature can be determined.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.61.061401

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Alkaline-earth-like atoms possess singlet and triplet manifolds coupled through the ground state. The weak and hence narrow linewidth intercombination transition can provide a powerful probe of singlet-singlet magneto-optic trap (MOT) dynamics. We demonstrate in situ probing of an ytterbium MOT and discuss how cloud position, size, and temperature can be determined.
We extend the technique originally proposed by [Honda et al., Phys. Rev. A 59, R934 (1999)] to measure the temperature of ytterbium and alkaline-earth-metal atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). The method is based on the analysis of excitation spectra obtained by probing the ${}^{1}{\text{S}}_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{}^{3}{\text{P}}_{1}$ intercombination line. Thanks to a careful analysis and modeling of the effects caused by the MOT light on the probe transition we overcome the resolution and precision limits encountered in previous works. Ground-state light shift and Rabi broadening are measured and successfully compared with calculated values. This knowledge allows us to properly extract the Doppler contribution to the linewidth, thus obtaining a reliable measurement of the cloud temperature. We finally show how spectroscopy on free-falling atoms provides an alternative method to determine the sample temperature which resembles the standard time-of-flight technique.
We report laser cooling and trapping of ytterbium atoms in a two-color magneto-optical trap (MOT). Benefited from both the broad singlet transition (1S0→1P1^1\text{S}_0\rightarrow {}^1\text{P}_11S0​→1P1​) and the narrow intercombination transition (1S0→3P1^1\text{S}_0\rightarrow {}^3\text{P}_11S0​→3P1​) of ytterbium atoms, the two-color MOT enables rapid loading and efficient cooling. We systematically investigate the shielding effect of the intercombination transition by examining the atom loading and loss rates of single-color and two-color MOTs. Our findings are general and can be extended to other alkaline earth(-like) atoms.
We propose and demonstrate a type of magneto-optical trap (MOT) for alkaline-earth-metal-like (AEML) atoms where the narrow intercombination ${}^{1}{S}_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{}^{3}{P}_{1}$ transition and the broad ${}^{1}{S}_{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{}^{1}{P}_{1}$ transition are spatially arranged into a core-shell configuration. Our scheme resolves the main limitations of previously adopted MOT schemes for AEML atoms, leading to significant increases in both the loading rate and the steady-state atom number. We apply this scheme to our experimental setup with 174Yb^{174}\mathrm{Yb}174Yb atoms and observe more than two orders of magnitude improvement in the loading rate and tenfold improvement in the steady-state atom number compared to a conventional intercombination MOT scheme. This technique could be readily extended to other AEML atoms to increase the statistical sensitivity of many different types of precision experiments.
Laser cooling on weak transitions is a useful technique for reaching ultracold temperatures in atoms with multiple valence electrons. However, for strongly magnetic atoms a conventional narrow-line magneto-optical trap (MOT) is destabilized by competition between optical and magnetic forces. We overcome this difficulty in Er by developing an unusual narrow-line MOT that balances optical and magnetic forces using laser light tuned to the blue side of a narrow (8 kHz) transition. The trap population is spin polarized with temperatures reaching below 2 muK. Our results constitute an alternative method for laser cooling on weak transitions, applicable to rare-earth-metal and metastable alkaline earth elements.
We report a two-color magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ytterbium atoms where the slowing and trapping functions are separately performed by the singlet transition light (6s[superscript 2] [superscript 1]S[subscript 0] → 6s6p [superscript 1]P[subscript 1]) and the triplet transition light (6s[superscript 2] [superscript 1]S[subscript 0] → 6s6p [superscript 3]P[subscript 1]), respectively. The two-color MOT is achieved by simultaneously applying laser light on both the broad-linewidth singlet transition and the narrow-linewidth triplet transition. It is highly robust against laser power imbalance even at very low magnetic field gradients, and can operate at magnetic field gradients down to 2 G cm[superscript −1] where a conventional MOT using the singlet transition is unable to trap atoms. We load and trap up to 4.0 × 10[superscript 5] atoms directly from an atomic beam at 700 K.
Abstract We report a two-color magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ytterbium atoms where the slowing and trapping functions are separately performed by the singlet transition light ( ) and the triplet transition light ( ), respectively. The two-color MOT is achieved by simultaneously applying laser light on both the broad-linewidth singlet transition and the narrow-linewidth triplet transition. It is highly robust against laser power imbalance even at very low magnetic field gradients, and can operate at magnetic field gradients down to 2 G cm −1 where a conventional MOT using the singlet transition is unable to trap atoms. We load and trap up to atoms directly from an atomic beam at 700 K.