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Physical Review A

Transverse laser cooling of a metastable argon beam: Dependence on the interaction time

Michael Drewsen, Nikolay V. Vitanov, Harold K. Haugen

Published Apr 1, 1993• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A pulsed metastable argon beam is transversely cooled in one dimension via the closed 4s[11/2${]}_{2}^{\mathit{o}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$4p[21/2${]}_{3}$ transition. A standing light wave, orthogonal to the atomic beam and located just at the source, provides the cooling. In all the measurements, the maximum electric field is equivalent to a Rabi frequency of \ensuremath{\sim}220 natural linewidths. The enhancement of the metastable atom flux is measured as a function of the interaction time with a time-of-flight technique. The dependence on the laser detuning is investigated and compared with theory.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.47.3118

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•Jan 28, 2013•1 citation
A pulsed metastable argon beam is transversely cooled in one dimension via the closed 4s[11/2]2o\ensuremath−{]}_{2}^{\mathit{o}\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}]2o\ensuremath−​4p[21/2]3{]}_{3}]3​ transition. A standing light wave, orthogonal to the atomic beam and located just at the source, provides the cooling. In all the measurements, the maximum electric field is equivalent to a Rabi frequency of \ensuremath{\sim}220 natural linewidths. The enhancement of the metastable atom flux is measured as a function of the interaction time with a time-of-flight technique. The dependence on the laser detuning is investigated and compared with theory.
A simple, versatile and effective scheme is presented for intensifying atomic beams by transverse laser cooling with two separated, intense standing waves. The first standing wave is negatively detuned while the second is positively detuned with respect to the cooling transition. A realization of the scheme, involving only one laser and simple optics, is proposed. Semiclassical calculations suggest that with a laser power of 0.1-1 W and an interaction length of a few cm, a flux enhancement of approximately 10 2 -10 3 should be obtainable by a two-dimensional set-up. Specific results are presented for the case of metastable argon.
A production of low velocity and monoenergetic atomic beams would increase the resolution in spectroscopic studies and many other experiments in atomic physics. Laser Cooling uses the radiation pressure to decelerate and cool atoms. The effusing from a glow discharge metastable argon atomic beam is affected by a counterpropagating laser light tuned to the cycling transition in argon. The Zeeman shift caused by a spatially varying magnetic field compensates for the changing Doppler shift that takes the atoms out of resonance as they decelerated. Deceleration and velocity bunching of atoms to a final velocity that depends on the detuning of the laser relative to a frequency of the transition have been observed. Time-of-Flight (TOF) spectroscopy is used to examine the velocity distribution of the cooled atomic beam. These TOF studies of the laser cooled atomic beam demonstrate the utility of laser deceleration for atomic-beam "velocity selection".
A thermal atomic beam of dysprosium atoms is cooled using the $4{f}^{10}6{s}^{2}(J=8)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{f}^{10}6s6p(J=9)$ transition at 421421421 nm. The cooling is done via a standing light wave orthogonal to the atomic beam. Efficient transverse cooling to the Doppler limit is demonstrated for all observable isotopes of dysprosium. Branching ratios to metastable states are demonstrated to be <<<$5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$. A scheme for enhancement of the nonzero-nuclear-spin-isotope cooling and a method for direct identification of possible trap states are proposed.
Metastable noble gas atomic beam is widely used in atomic and molecular physics studies.Using radio-frequency discharge and transverse laser cooling, we produced a well-collimated intense meta-stable Krypton beam.Numerical simulation is also used to analyze the trajectories of atoms in an optic field produced by transverse cooling laser beams.The charactersisticl of the atomic beam are determined by measuring the laser induced fluorescence.The atomic beam flux measured at 230 cm downstream is 1.61016 atoms/(s*sr), which is enhanced by two orders of magnitude.The Kr atoms are finally trapped in a magneto-optic trap.A total of 1.31010 meta-stable 84Kr atoms can be simultaneously trapped with a loading rate of 3.01011 atoms/s.The same setup is also successfully used to obtain a bright metastable atomic argon beam and trap.
The high velocity of free atoms associated with the thermal motion, together with the velocity distribution of atoms has imposed the ultimate limitation on the precision of ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy. A sample consisting of low velocity atoms would provide a substantial improvement in spectroscopy resolution. To overcome the problem of thermal motion, atomic physicists have pursued two goals; first, the reduction of the thermal motion (cooling); and second, the confinement of the atoms by means of electromagnetic fields (trapping). Cooling carried sufficiently far, eliminates the motional problems, whereas trapping allows for long observation times. In this work the laser cooling and trapping of an argon atomic beam will be discussed. The experiments involve a time-of-flight spectroscopy on metastable argon atoms. Laser deceleration or cooling of atoms is achieved by counter propagating a photon against an atomic beam of metastable atoms. The solution to the Doppler shift problem is achieved using spatially varying magnetic field along the beam path to Zeeman shift the atomic resonance frequency so as to keep the atoms in resonance with a fixed frequency cooling laser. For trapping experiments a Magnetooptical trap (MOT) will be used. The MOT is formed by three pairs of counter-propagating laser beams with mutual opposite circular polarization and a frequency tuned slightly below the center of the atomic resonance and superimposed on a magnetic quadrupole field.
This thesis describes the construction and characterisation of a unique cold argon atom source for sympathetic cooling of molecules. Argon atoms were laser cooled from their lowest lying metastable state using the 4s[3/2]2 → 4p[5/2]3 transition at 811.5 nm. A magneto-optical trap (MOT) was used to cool the metastable argon (Ar*) atoms to 73.2 ± 0.4 μK and trap them at a density of 3.93 × 10^9 cm-3. Cooling was facilitated using an external-cavity diode laser which was frequency-stabilised to the cooling transition using a magnetic dichroism technique. This was the first application of this technique to a plasma operated at our pressures where the applied magnetic field affected the gas behaviour. The Ar* atoms in the MOT were used to demonstrate chirped optical Stark acceleration for the first time. Atoms were accelerated up to velocities of 191 ± 1 ms-1 while maintaining narrow energy spreads in the accelerated ensemble (30-100 mK). The acceleration occurred over tens of nanoseconds and on micrometre length scales. Control over the number of particles accelerated was achieved by tailoring the depth of the optical lattice potential. Monte Carlo numerical simulations of acceleration were used to fit experimental results and study the dynamics of particles over the acceleration duration. Trapping of Ar* atoms in a quasi-electrostatic trap (QUEST) has also been demonstrated. The QUEST was formed at the focus of a 100 W laser beam with a wavelength of 10.6 μm. A trap lifetime of 18.3 ± 0.3 ms was measured.