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Physics Today

Magneto-Optic Traps are Set for Radioactive Atoms

Ray L. Ladbury

Published Sep 1, 1994• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

For years atomic and nuclear physicists have dreamed of doing experiments with dense, trapped gases of cold, neutral, radioactive atoms. With such samples they could perform precision spectroscopy of radioactive atoms, search for electric dipole moments (indicative of time-reversalsymmetry violation), study parity violation and electroweak effects in atomic transitions and β decay, and more. As reported in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters, such experiments took a step (or perhaps three) closer to reality when groups at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Colorado demonstrated the feasibility of quickly and efficiently transporting and capturing large numbers of atoms from a vapor or an atomic beam.

DOI
10.1063/1.2808626

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For years atomic and nuclear physicists have dreamed of doing experiments with dense, trapped gases of cold, neutral, radioactive atoms. With such samples they could perform precision spectroscopy of radioactive atoms, search for electric dipole moments (indicative of time-reversalsymmetry violation), study parity violation and electroweak effects in atomic transitions and β decay, and more. As reported in a recent issue of Physical Review Letters, such experiments took a step (or perhaps three) closer to reality when groups at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the University of Colorado demonstrated the feasibility of quickly and efficiently transporting and capturing large numbers of atoms from a vapor or an atomic beam.
Lately there has been rapid progress in techniques for trapping samples of neutral atoms at elevated densities and extremely low temperatures. Now a group at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder, Colorado, has used a new type of magnetic trap to confine rubidium atoms at the lowest kinetic temperature yet recorded for an atomic gas. Compelling motivations for this effort include the use of such ultra-cold gases in high-precision spectroscopy, low-energy tests of the "standard model" of particle physics, and studies of atomic collisions at very low relative velocities. Particularly exciting is the prospect of studying quantum collective phenomena such as Bose-Einstein condensation (p37).
The capability of manipulating neutral atoms with the force of resonant scattered laser light is being exploited in several different areas of research. The author discusses applications in particle and nuclear physics by expediting some measurements of the subtle effects of the fundamental weak interaction in atoms and nuclei. It was shown in two recent experiments that it is possible to efficiently cool accelerator produced short-lived isotopes and load them into magneto-optic traps. These demonstrations open up new possibilities for obtaining the required precision in experiments involving rare radioactive isotopes.