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Blue laser cooling transitions in Tm I

Russian Federation

Published Jan 1, 2007• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We have studied possible candidates for laser cool- ing transitions in 169 Tm in the spectral region of 410-420 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy, we have meas- ured the hyperfine structure and rates of two nearly closed cy- cling transitions from the ground state 4 f 13 6s 2 ( 2 F0)(Jg = 7/2) to upper states 4 f 12 ( 3 H5)5d3/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 410. 6n m and 4 f 12 ( 3 F4)5d5/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 420.4 nm and evaluated the life times of the excited levels as 15.9(8) ns and 48 (6) ns, respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels are evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. We conclude that the strong transition at 410. 6n m has an optical leak rate of less then 2 × 10 −5 and can be used for efficient laser cooling of 169 Tm from a thermal atomic beam. The hyperfine structure of two other even-parity levels, which can be excited from the ground state at 409. 5n m and 418.9 nm, is also measured by the same technique. In addition, we give a calculated value of 7(2) s −1 for the rate of magnetic- dipole transition at 1.14 µm between the fine structure levels (Jg = 7/2) ↔ (J � = 5/2) of the ground state which can be con- sidered as a candidate for applications in atomic clocks.

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Blue laser cooling transitions in Tm I

N. Kolachevsky

We have studied possible candidates for laser cooling transitions in 169 Tm in the spectral region 410 –420 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy we have measured the hyperfine structure and rates of two nearly closed cycling transitions from the ground state 4f 13 6s 2 ( 2 F0)(Jg = 7/2) to upper states 4f 12 ( 3 H5)5d3/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 410.6 nm and 4f 12 ( 3 F4)5d5/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 420.4 nm and evaluated the life times of the excited levels as 16.1(8) ns and 40(4) ns respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels are evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. We conclude, that the strong transition at 410.6 nm has an optical leak rate of less then 2·10 −5 and can be used for efficient laser cooling of 169 Tm from a thermal atomic beam. In addition we give a calculated value of 7(2) s −1 for the rate of magnetic-dipole transition at 1.14 µm between the fine structure levels (Jg = 7/2) ↔ (J ′ g = 5/2) of the ground state. Due to efficient shielding by the closed 6s 2 shell, this transition is insensitive to collisions which makes it a promising candidate for applications in atomic clocks. PACS numbers: I.

•Nov 27, 2012•25 citations

Blue cooling transitions of thulium atom

K. Chebakov, N. Kolachevsky, Alexey V. Akimov +4 more

Full text: It has been shown recently that Yb and Er atoms from the lanthanides group can be efficiently laser-cooled using strong transitions near 400 nm. Degenerate Fermi gases of ytterbium have been also recently demonstrated using laser-cooling based technic. Our goal was to investigate the possibility of laser cooling of Tm atom. Among other lanthanides, thulium possesses relatively simple level structure.Moreover, it has only one stable isotope {sup 169}Tm with a nuclear spin of I = 1/2 which makes possible to use schemes for sub-Doppler cooling. Laser-cooled thulium is a favorable candidate for optical clocks applications, since the forbidden transition between the fine structure sublevels (J{sub g} 5=2) - (J'{sub g} = 7/2) of the ground state 4f{sup 13}6s{sup 2} ({lambda} = 1.14 micron) has a spectral width of approximately 1 Hz. The collisional shift of such kind of transitions in lanthanides is suppressed because of the outer closed 6s{sup 2} shell, which allows for precision spectroscopy in a dense atomic cloud. We studied two candidates for cooling transitions from the ground state 4f{sup 13}6s{sup 2} (J{sub g} 7/2) to the states 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}H{sub 5})5d{sub 3/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 9/2) at 410.6 nm and 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}F{sub 4})5d{sub 5/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 9/2) at 420.4 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy, we measured the hyperfine structure and rates of these transitions. We evaluated the life times of appropriate excited levels as 15.9(8) ns and 48(6) ns, respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels were evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. The fraction of atoms which do not return to the ground state is about 10{sup -5} and 5 {center_dot} 10{sup -4} for the 410.6 nm and 420.4 nm transitions respectively. We conclude that the strong transition at 410.6 nm with relative slow leakage rate can be used for the efficient cooling of Tm I. We also measured hyperfine structure of two nearby transitions from the ground state to the states 4f{sup 13}({sup 2}F{sub 7/2})6s6p({sup 1}P{sub 1}) (J{sub e} 5/2) at 409.4 nm and 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}F{sub 4})5d{sub 5/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 7/2) at 418.9 nm, which can be used for {lambda}-type excitation of {lambda} = 1.14 {mu}m transition. (author)

•Jul 1, 2008•0 citations

Study of transitions in thulium atoms in the 410–420-nm range for laser cooling

Alexey V. Akimov, K. Chebakov, Inga Yu. TOLSTIKHINA +5 more

The possibility of laser cooling of thulium atoms is considered. The hyperfine structure of almost cyclic 4f 13 6s 2 ( J g = 7/2) ↔ 4f 12 5d 3/2 6s 2 ( J e = 9/2) and 4f 13 6s 2 ( J g = 7/2) ↔ 4f 12 5d 5/2 6s 2 ( J e = 9/2) transitions at 410.6 and 420.4 nm, respectively, is studied by the method of sub-Doppler saturation spectroscopy in counterpropagating laser beams. The hyperfine splitting of excited levels involved in these transitions is measured and the natural linewidths of these transitions are determined. The structure of the neighbouring 4f 13 6s6p ( J e = 5/2) and 4f 12 5d 5/2 6s 2 ( J e = 7/2) levels is studied for the first time by this method. The decay probabilities of the J e = 9/2 levels via channels removing atoms from the cooling cycle are calculated. It is found that the branching ratio for the strong transition at 410.6 nm ( A = 6 × 10 7 s -1 ) is smaller than 2 × 10 -5 , which makes this transition most promising for laser cooling. The laser cooling of atoms in a Zeeman cooler at this transition is simulated. The possibility of using a laser-cooled cloud of thulium atoms to study the metrological transition at 1.14 μm is discussed.

Quantum Electronics•Oct 31, 2008•4 citations

Laser cooling transitions in atomic erbium

H Ban, Marcus Jacka, J. L. Hanssen +2 more

We discuss laser cooling opportunities in atomic erbium, identifying five J ? J + 1 transitions from the 4f126s2 3H6 ground state that are accessible to common visible and near-infrared continuous-wave tunable lasers. We present lifetime measurements for the 4f11(4Io 15/2)5d5/26s2 (15/2, 5/2)7o state at 11888 cm-1 and the 4f11(4Io 13/2)5d3/26s2 (13/2, 5/2)7o state at 15847 cm-1, showing values of 20 +/- 4 micros and 5.6 +/- 1.4 micros, respectively. We also present a calculated value of 13 +/- 7 s-1 for the transition rate from the 4f11(4Io 15/2)5d3/26s2 (15/2, 3/2)7 o state at 7697 cm-1 to the ground state, based on scaled Hartree-Fock energy parameters. Laser cooling on these transitions in combination with a strong, fast (5.8 ns) laser cooling transition at 401 nm, suggest new opportunities for narrowband laser cooling of a large-magnetic moment atom, with possible applications in quantum information processing, high-precision atomic clocks, quantum degenerate gases, and deterministic single-atom doping of materials.

Optics Express•Jan 1, 2005•44 citations

Hyperfine structure of laser-cooling transitions in fermionic erbium-167

Albert Frisch, K. Aikawa, Michael F. Mark +3 more

We have measured and analyzed the hyperfine structure of two lines, one at 583 nm and one at 401 nm, of the only stable fermionic isotope of atomic erbium as well as determined its isotope shift relative to the four most-abundant bosonic isotopes. Our work focuses on the $J\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J+1$ laser cooling transitions from the $[\text{Xe}]4{f}^{12}6{s}^{2}{(}^{3}{H}_{6})$ ground state to two levels of the excited $[\text{Xe}]4{f}^{12}6s6p$ configuration, which are of major interest for experiments on quantum degenerate dipolar Fermi gases. From a fit to the observed spectra of the strong optical transition at 401 nm we find that the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine constants for the excited state are ${A}_{e}/h=\ensuremath{-}100.1(3)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$ and ${B}_{e}/h=\ensuremath{-}3079(30)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$, respectively. The hyperfine spectrum of the narrow transition at 583 nm, was previously observed and accurate ${A}_{e}$ and ${B}_{e}$ coefficients are available. A simulated spectrum based on these coefficients agrees well with our measurements. We have also determined the hyperfine constants using relativistic configuration-interaction ab initio calculations. The agreement between the ab initio and fitted data for the ground state is better than 0.1%, while for the two excited states the agreement is 1% and 11% for the ${A}_{e}$ and ${B}_{e}$ constants, respectively.

arXiv:1304.3326•Physical Review A•Sep 13, 2013•36 citations

High-resolution Doppler laser spectroscopy of the laser cooling candidate La-

Judith Elena Jordan

The bound-bound transition from the 5d²6s² ³F_2 ground state to the 5d6s²6p ³D_1 excited state in negative lanthanum has been proposed as a candidate for laser cooling, which has not yet been achieved for negative ions. Anion laser cooling holds the potential to allow the production of ultracold ensembles of any negatively charged species. In this work the aforementioned transition was studied in a beam of negative La ions by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The center-of-gravity frequency of the transition was measured to be 96.592 80(10) THz. Seven of the nine expected hyperfine structure resonances were resolved. The observed peaks were unambiguously assigned to the predicted hyperfine transitions by a fit. From the determined hyperfine structure for this transition it was concluded that only three lasers would be required to cool and re-pump all hyperfine levels. Furthermore, the observed relative transition amplitudes suggest that in resonance the transitions are saturated at a laser power of 45 W/m². A rough estimate of the transition cross section confirms that La‾ is a promising candidate for the first laser cooling of negative ions.

•Jan 1, 2015•1 citation
We have studied possible candidates for laser cool- ing transitions in 169 Tm in the spectral region of 410-420 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy, we have meas- ured the hyperfine structure and rates of two nearly closed cy- cling transitions from the ground state 4 f 13 6s 2 ( 2 F0)(Jg = 7/2) to upper states 4 f 12 ( 3 H5)5d3/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 410. 6n m and 4 f 12 ( 3 F4)5d5/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 420.4 nm and evaluated the life times of the excited levels as 15.9(8) ns and 48 (6) ns, respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels are evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. We conclude that the strong transition at 410. 6n m has an optical leak rate of less then 2 × 10 −5 and can be used for efficient laser cooling of 169 Tm from a thermal atomic beam. The hyperfine structure of two other even-parity levels, which can be excited from the ground state at 409. 5n m and 418.9 nm, is also measured by the same technique. In addition, we give a calculated value of 7(2) s −1 for the rate of magnetic- dipole transition at 1.14 µm between the fine structure levels (Jg = 7/2) ↔ (J � = 5/2) of the ground state which can be con- sidered as a candidate for applications in atomic clocks.
We have studied possible candidates for laser cooling transitions in 169 Tm in the spectral region 410 –420 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy we have measured the hyperfine structure and rates of two nearly closed cycling transitions from the ground state 4f 13 6s 2 ( 2 F0)(Jg = 7/2) to upper states 4f 12 ( 3 H5)5d3/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 410.6 nm and 4f 12 ( 3 F4)5d5/26s 2 (Je = 9/2) at 420.4 nm and evaluated the life times of the excited levels as 16.1(8) ns and 40(4) ns respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels are evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. We conclude, that the strong transition at 410.6 nm has an optical leak rate of less then 2·10 −5 and can be used for efficient laser cooling of 169 Tm from a thermal atomic beam. In addition we give a calculated value of 7(2) s −1 for the rate of magnetic-dipole transition at 1.14 µm between the fine structure levels (Jg = 7/2) ↔ (J ′ g = 5/2) of the ground state. Due to efficient shielding by the closed 6s 2 shell, this transition is insensitive to collisions which makes it a promising candidate for applications in atomic clocks. PACS numbers: I.
Full text: It has been shown recently that Yb and Er atoms from the lanthanides group can be efficiently laser-cooled using strong transitions near 400 nm. Degenerate Fermi gases of ytterbium have been also recently demonstrated using laser-cooling based technic. Our goal was to investigate the possibility of laser cooling of Tm atom. Among other lanthanides, thulium possesses relatively simple level structure.Moreover, it has only one stable isotope {sup 169}Tm with a nuclear spin of I = 1/2 which makes possible to use schemes for sub-Doppler cooling. Laser-cooled thulium is a favorable candidate for optical clocks applications, since the forbidden transition between the fine structure sublevels (J{sub g} 5=2) - (J'{sub g} = 7/2) of the ground state 4f{sup 13}6s{sup 2} ({lambda} = 1.14 micron) has a spectral width of approximately 1 Hz. The collisional shift of such kind of transitions in lanthanides is suppressed because of the outer closed 6s{sup 2} shell, which allows for precision spectroscopy in a dense atomic cloud. We studied two candidates for cooling transitions from the ground state 4f{sup 13}6s{sup 2} (J{sub g} 7/2) to the states 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}H{sub 5})5d{sub 3/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 9/2) at 410.6 nm and 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}F{sub 4})5d{sub 5/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 9/2) at 420.4 nm. By means of saturation absorption spectroscopy, we measured the hyperfine structure and rates of these transitions. We evaluated the life times of appropriate excited levels as 15.9(8) ns and 48(6) ns, respectively. Decay rates from these levels to neighboring opposite-parity levels were evaluated by means of Hartree-Fock calculations. The fraction of atoms which do not return to the ground state is about 10{sup -5} and 5 {center_dot} 10{sup -4} for the 410.6 nm and 420.4 nm transitions respectively. We conclude that the strong transition at 410.6 nm with relative slow leakage rate can be used for the efficient cooling of Tm I. We also measured hyperfine structure of two nearby transitions from the ground state to the states 4f{sup 13}({sup 2}F{sub 7/2})6s6p({sup 1}P{sub 1}) (J{sub e} 5/2) at 409.4 nm and 4f{sup 12}({sup 3}F{sub 4})5d{sub 5/2}6s{sup 2} (J{sub e} = 7/2) at 418.9 nm, which can be used for {lambda}-type excitation of {lambda} = 1.14 {mu}m transition. (author)
The possibility of laser cooling of thulium atoms is considered. The hyperfine structure of almost cyclic 4f 13 6s 2 ( J g = 7/2) ↔ 4f 12 5d 3/2 6s 2 ( J e = 9/2) and 4f 13 6s 2 ( J g = 7/2) ↔ 4f 12 5d 5/2 6s 2 ( J e = 9/2) transitions at 410.6 and 420.4 nm, respectively, is studied by the method of sub-Doppler saturation spectroscopy in counterpropagating laser beams. The hyperfine splitting of excited levels involved in these transitions is measured and the natural linewidths of these transitions are determined. The structure of the neighbouring 4f 13 6s6p ( J e = 5/2) and 4f 12 5d 5/2 6s 2 ( J e = 7/2) levels is studied for the first time by this method. The decay probabilities of the J e = 9/2 levels via channels removing atoms from the cooling cycle are calculated. It is found that the branching ratio for the strong transition at 410.6 nm ( A = 6 × 10 7 s -1 ) is smaller than 2 × 10 -5 , which makes this transition most promising for laser cooling. The laser cooling of atoms in a Zeeman cooler at this transition is simulated. The possibility of using a laser-cooled cloud of thulium atoms to study the metrological transition at 1.14 μm is discussed.
We discuss laser cooling opportunities in atomic erbium, identifying five J ? J + 1 transitions from the 4f126s2 3H6 ground state that are accessible to common visible and near-infrared continuous-wave tunable lasers. We present lifetime measurements for the 4f11(4Io 15/2)5d5/26s2 (15/2, 5/2)7o state at 11888 cm-1 and the 4f11(4Io 13/2)5d3/26s2 (13/2, 5/2)7o state at 15847 cm-1, showing values of 20 +/- 4 micros and 5.6 +/- 1.4 micros, respectively. We also present a calculated value of 13 +/- 7 s-1 for the transition rate from the 4f11(4Io 15/2)5d3/26s2 (15/2, 3/2)7 o state at 7697 cm-1 to the ground state, based on scaled Hartree-Fock energy parameters. Laser cooling on these transitions in combination with a strong, fast (5.8 ns) laser cooling transition at 401 nm, suggest new opportunities for narrowband laser cooling of a large-magnetic moment atom, with possible applications in quantum information processing, high-precision atomic clocks, quantum degenerate gases, and deterministic single-atom doping of materials.
We have measured and analyzed the hyperfine structure of two lines, one at 583 nm and one at 401 nm, of the only stable fermionic isotope of atomic erbium as well as determined its isotope shift relative to the four most-abundant bosonic isotopes. Our work focuses on the $J\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J+1$ laser cooling transitions from the [Xe]4f126s2(3H6)[\text{Xe}]4{f}^{12}6{s}^{2}{(}^{3}{H}_{6})[Xe]4f126s2(3H6​) ground state to two levels of the excited [Xe]4f126s6p[\text{Xe}]4{f}^{12}6s6p[Xe]4f126s6p configuration, which are of major interest for experiments on quantum degenerate dipolar Fermi gases. From a fit to the observed spectra of the strong optical transition at 401 nm we find that the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine constants for the excited state are ${A}_{e}/h=\ensuremath{-}100.1(3)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$ and ${B}_{e}/h=\ensuremath{-}3079(30)\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MHz}$, respectively. The hyperfine spectrum of the narrow transition at 583 nm, was previously observed and accurate Ae{A}_{e}Ae​ and Be{B}_{e}Be​ coefficients are available. A simulated spectrum based on these coefficients agrees well with our measurements. We have also determined the hyperfine constants using relativistic configuration-interaction ab initio calculations. The agreement between the ab initio and fitted data for the ground state is better than 0.1%, while for the two excited states the agreement is 1% and 11% for the Ae{A}_{e}Ae​ and Be{B}_{e}Be​ constants, respectively.
The bound-bound transition from the 5d²6s² ³F_2 ground state to the 5d6s²6p ³D_1 excited state in negative lanthanum has been proposed as a candidate for laser cooling, which has not yet been achieved for negative ions. Anion laser cooling holds the potential to allow the production of ultracold ensembles of any negatively charged species. In this work the aforementioned transition was studied in a beam of negative La ions by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The center-of-gravity frequency of the transition was measured to be 96.592 80(10) THz. Seven of the nine expected hyperfine structure resonances were resolved. The observed peaks were unambiguously assigned to the predicted hyperfine transitions by a fit. From the determined hyperfine structure for this transition it was concluded that only three lasers would be required to cool and re-pump all hyperfine levels. Furthermore, the observed relative transition amplitudes suggest that in resonance the transitions are saturated at a laser power of 45 W/m². A rough estimate of the transition cross section confirms that La‾ is a promising candidate for the first laser cooling of negative ions.