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Zeeman slowing of thulium atoms

K. Chebakov, А. В. Соколов, Alexey V. Akimov, Денис Дмитриевич Сукачев, S. I. Kanorsky, N. Kolachevsky, В. Н. Сорокин

Published Dec 4, 2012• 10 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We demonstrate laser slowing of a hot thulium atomic beam using the nearly closed cycling transition 4f136s2 ( 2F ◦)(J = 7/2) ↔ 4f12 ( 3H5)5d3/26s2 (J = 9/2) at 410.6nm. Atoms are decelerated to velocities around 25m/s by a 40cm Zeeman slower. The flux of slowed atoms is evaluated as 107 s−1cm−2. The experiment explicitly indicates the possibility of trapping Tm atoms in a magneto-optical trap. c ○ 2009 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 140.3320, 300.6360 Cooling of any new atomic species opens new horizons for spectroscopy, atomic and quantum physics, degenerate gas study and some technical applications. Compared to buffer gas cooling demonstrated for a variety of atoms and molecules (see e.g. [1]), laser cooling is not universal, but gives more selectivity and control on atoms also typically allowing for lower temperatures. Depending on the level structure and atomic properties as well as availability of laser sources, an individual approach to each

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We demonstrate laser slowing of a hot thulium atomic beam using the nearly closed cycling transition 4f(13)6s(2)((2)F(o))(J=7/2)<-->4f(12)((3)H(5))5d(3/2)6s(2)(J=9/2) at 410.6 nm. Atoms are decelerated to velocities around 25 m/s by a 40 cm Zeeman slower. The flux of slowed atoms is evaluated as 10(7) s(-1)cm(-2). The experiment explicitly indicates the possibility of trapping Tm atoms in a magneto-optical trap.

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We have developed a compact vacuum system for laser cooling and spectroscopy of neutral thulium atoms. Compactness is achieved by obviating a classical Zeeman slower section and placing an atomic oven close to a magneto-optical trap (MOT), specifically at the distance of 11 cm. In this configuration, we significantly gained in solid angle of an atomic beam, which is affected by MOT laser beams, and reached 1 million atoms loaded directly in the MOT with only 15 mW of MOT cooling beams net power. By exploiting Zeeman-like deceleration of atoms with an additional laser beam and tailoring the MOT magnetic field gradient with a small magnetic coil, we demonstrated trapping of up to 13 million atoms. These results show great perspective of the developed setup for realizing a compact high-performance optical atomic clock based on thulium atoms.

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C. J. Pethick, H. Smith

The advent of the laser opened the way to the development of powerful methods for producing and manipulating cold atomic gases. To set the stage we describe a typical experiment, which is shown schematically in Fig. 4.1. A beam of sodium atoms emerges from an oven at a temperature of about 600 K, corresponding to a speed of about 800 m s −1 , and is then passed through a so-called Zeeman slower, in which the velocity of the atoms is reduced to about 30 m s −1 , corresponding to a temperature of about 1 K. In the Zeeman slower, a laser beam propagates in the direction opposite that of the atomic beam, and the radiation force produced by absorption of photons retards the atoms. Due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the atomic transition in the laboratory frame is not generally constant, since the atomic velocity varies. However, by applying an inhomogeneous magnetic field designed so that the Doppler and Zeeman effects cancel, the frequency of the transition in the rest frame of the atom may be held fixed. On emerging from the Zeeman slower the atoms are slow enough to be captured by a magneto-optical trap (MOT), where they are further cooled by interactions with laser light to temperatures of order 100 μK. Another way of compensating for the changing Doppler shift is to increase the laser frequency in time, which is referred to as ‘chirping’.

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We demonstrate laser slowing of a hot thulium atomic beam using the nearly closed cycling transition 4f136s2 ( 2F ◦)(J = 7/2) ↔ 4f12 ( 3H5)5d3/26s2 (J = 9/2) at 410.6nm. Atoms are decelerated to velocities around 25m/s by a 40cm Zeeman slower. The flux of slowed atoms is evaluated as 107 s−1cm−2. The experiment explicitly indicates the possibility of trapping Tm atoms in a magneto-optical trap. c ○ 2009 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 140.3320, 300.6360 Cooling of any new atomic species opens new horizons for spectroscopy, atomic and quantum physics, degenerate gas study and some technical applications. Compared to buffer gas cooling demonstrated for a variety of atoms and molecules (see e.g. [1]), laser cooling is not universal, but gives more selectivity and control on atoms also typically allowing for lower temperatures. Depending on the level structure and atomic properties as well as availability of laser sources, an individual approach to each
Thulium atoms are trapped in a magneto-optical trap using a strong transition at 410410410 nm with a small branching ratio. We trap up to $7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}$ atoms at a temperature of 0.8(2)0.8(2)0.8(2) mK after deceleration in a 404040-cm-long Zeeman slower. Optical leaks from the cooling cycle influence the lifetime of atoms in the magneto-optical trap which varies between 0.30.30.3 and 1.51.51.5 s in our experiments. The lower limit for the leaking rate from the upper cooling level is measured to be 22(6)22(6)22(6) ${\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. The repumping laser transferring the atomic population out of the F=3F=3F=3 hyperfine ground-state sublevel gives a 3030%30 increase for the lifetime and the number of atoms in the trap.
We have developed a compact vacuum system for laser cooling and spectroscopy of neutral thulium atoms. Compactness is achieved by obviating a classical Zeeman slower section and placing an atomic oven close to a magneto-optical trap (MOT), specifically at the distance of 11 cm. In this configuration, we significantly gained in solid angle of an atomic beam, which is affected by MOT laser beams, and reached 1 million atoms loaded directly in the MOT with only 15 mW of MOT cooling beams net power. By exploiting Zeeman-like deceleration of atoms with an additional laser beam and tailoring the MOT magnetic field gradient with a small magnetic coil, we demonstrated trapping of up to 13 million atoms. These results show great perspective of the developed setup for realizing a compact high-performance optical atomic clock based on thulium atoms.
Cold molecules are an invaluable tool for modern physics. Cold atoms have already revolutionized precision metrology, allowed for spectacular findings in quantum physics and opened the door for the creation and observation of novel states of matter. Cold molecules bring with them additional degrees of freedom which give rise to unique properties that enable new kinds of experiments. For these experiments it is of vital importance to start with a sufficiently large number of cold molecules. There are multiple paths for the slowing and cooling of atoms and most of the slowing techniques utilizing lasers for direct cooling have been transferred to the molecular case with its specific requirements. The Zeeman slowing technique is advantageous for loading a trap with cold particles but had not yet been transferred from atoms to the molecular case. In this thesis I will show the first realization of the Zeeman slowing technique for diatomic molecules. This thesis will discuss several preparatory steps: Our group has had some ideas to collimate the molecular beam with a conical nozzle outlet at the buffer gas cell which I investigated on potassium atoms generated by the ablation of 39K35Cl inside the buffer gas cell. I also realized a fluorescence spectroscopy of the |XΣ1/2, N = 1, v = 0⟩ → |AΠ1/2, N = 0, v = 0⟩ transition in magnetic fields up to 300 G and confirmed simulations regarding our two laser cycling scheme in the Paschen-Back regime by measuring the scattering rate of light on one molecule. Finally, I created pre-cooled 40Ca19F with a forward velocity of around 150 m s−1 from a 40Ca19F2 target with laser ablation inside a cryogenic buffer gas cell. With the Zeeman slowing technique I slowed the molecules down to 25 m s−1, a velocity where trapping can be possible. I have also shown the characteristic compression into specific velocity classes for not yet trappable velocities. Together these two findings demonstrate that molecular Zeeman slowing is possible and a real promising tool for future experiments.
The advent of the laser opened the way to the development of powerful new methods for manipulating and cooling atoms which were exploited in the realization of Bose–Einstein condensation in alkali atom vapours. To set the stage we describe a typical experiment, which is shown schematically in Fig. 4.1. A beam of sodium atoms emerges from an oven at a temperature of about 600 K, corresponding to a speed of about 800 m s –1 , and is then passed through a so-called Zeeman slower, in which the velocity of the atoms is reduced to about 30 m s –1 , corresponding to a temperature of about 1 K. In the Zeeman slower, a laser beam propagates in the direction opposite that of the atomic beam, and the radiation force produced by absorption of photons retards the atoms. Due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the atomic transition in the laboratory frame is not generally constant, since the atomic velocity varies. However, by applying an inhomogeneous magnetic field designed so that the Doppler and Zeeman effects cancel, the frequency of the transition in the rest frame of the atom may be held fixed. On emerging from the Zeeman slower the atoms are slow enough to be captured by a magneto-optical trap (MOT), where they are further cooled by interactions with laser light to temperatures of order 100 μK. Another way of compensating for the changing Doppler shift is to increase the laser frequency in time, which is referred to as ‘chirping’. In other experiments the MOT is filled by transferring atoms from a second MOT where atoms are captured directly from the vapour.
The advent of the laser opened the way to the development of powerful methods for producing and manipulating cold atomic gases. To set the stage we describe a typical experiment, which is shown schematically in Fig. 4.1. A beam of sodium atoms emerges from an oven at a temperature of about 600 K, corresponding to a speed of about 800 m s −1 , and is then passed through a so-called Zeeman slower, in which the velocity of the atoms is reduced to about 30 m s −1 , corresponding to a temperature of about 1 K. In the Zeeman slower, a laser beam propagates in the direction opposite that of the atomic beam, and the radiation force produced by absorption of photons retards the atoms. Due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the atomic transition in the laboratory frame is not generally constant, since the atomic velocity varies. However, by applying an inhomogeneous magnetic field designed so that the Doppler and Zeeman effects cancel, the frequency of the transition in the rest frame of the atom may be held fixed. On emerging from the Zeeman slower the atoms are slow enough to be captured by a magneto-optical trap (MOT), where they are further cooled by interactions with laser light to temperatures of order 100 μK. Another way of compensating for the changing Doppler shift is to increase the laser frequency in time, which is referred to as ‘chirping’.