Optical Excitation and Trapping of $^{81}$Kr
Atomic Physics
2021-07-09 v1
Abstract
We have realized optical excitation, trapping and detection of the radioisotope Kr with an isotopic abundance of 0.9 ppt. The 124 nm light needed for the production of metastable atoms is generated by a resonant discharge lamp. Photon transport through the optically thick krypton gas inside the lamp is simulated and optimized to enhance both brightness and resonance. We achieve a state-of-the-art Kr loading rate of 1800 atoms/h, which can be further scaled up by adding more lamps. The all-optical approach overcomes the limitations on precision and sample size of radiokrypton dating, enabling new applications in the earth sciences, particularly for dating of polar ice cores.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2107.03657,
title = {Optical Excitation and Trapping of $^{81}$Kr},
author = {Jie. S. Wang and F. Ritterbusch and X. -Z. Dong and C. Gao and H. Li and W. Jiang and S. -Y. Liu and Z. -T. Lu and W. -H. Wang and G. -M. Yang and Y. -S. Zhang and Z. -Y. Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.03657},
year = {2021}
}