Laser cooling of a neon atomic beam in metastable states (A)

Wilbert Rooijakkers, W. Hogervorst, W. Vassen

Fujio Shimizu, Kazuko Shimizu, Hiroshi Takuma

A neon atomic beam in the 1s5 (J=2) metastable level is cooled by a counterpropagating laser beam using 1s5-2p9 transition. By transferring the 1s5 population to the 1s3 (J=0) metastable level using the optical pumping through 2p2, a cooled 1s3 beam is also generated.

William D. Phillips, John V. Prodan, Harold J. Metcalf

Hoogerland

Fujio Shimizu, Kazuko Shimizu, Hiroshi Takuma

A neon atomic beam in the metastable state 1${s}_{5}$ has been decelerated and trapped by the spontaneous light force of a resonant laser in a quadrupole magnetic field. Trapping has been achieved on all isotopes $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$, $^{21}\mathrm{Ne}$, and $^{22}\mathrm{Ne}$ using a sample with natural abundance. For $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$, approximately 4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{7}$ atoms are trapped.

Jan Schütz, Thomas Feldker, Holger John +1 more

We investigate heteronuclear collisions in isotope mixtures of laser-cooled metastable (${}^{3}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}{P}_{2}$) neon. Experiments are performed with spin-polarized atoms in a magnetic trap for all two-isotope combinations of the stable neon isotopes ${}^{20}$Ne, ${}^{21}$Ne, and ${}^{22}$Ne. We determine the rate coefficients for heteronuclear ionizing collisions to ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{21,20}=(3.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2.7)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ cm${}^{3}$/s, ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{22,20}=(2.6\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.7)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ cm${}^{3}$/s, and ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{21,22}=(3.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.9)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}$ cm${}^{3}$/s. We also study heteronuclear elastic collision processes and give upper bounds for heteronuclear thermal relaxation cross sections. This work significantly extends the limited available experimental data on heteronuclear ionizing collisions for laser-cooled atoms involving one or more rare gas atoms in a metastable state.