Magneto-Optical Trap for Thulium Atoms
Atomic Physics
2010-12-27 v2 Optics
Quantum Physics
Abstract
Thulium atoms are trapped in a magneto-optical trap using a strong transition at 410 nm with a small branching ratio. We trap up to atoms at a temperature of 0.8(2) mK after deceleration in a 40 cm long Zeeman slower. Optical leaks from the cooling cycle influence the lifetime of atoms in the MOT which varies between 0.3 -1.5 s in our experiments. The lower limit for the leaking rate from the upper cooling level is measured to be 22(6) s. The repumping laser transferring the atomic population out of the F=3 hyperfine ground-state sublevel gives a 30% increase for the lifetime and the number of atoms in the trap.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1003.0877,
title = {Magneto-Optical Trap for Thulium Atoms},
author = {D. Sukachev and A. Sokolov and K. Chebakov and A. Akimov and S. Kanorsky and N. Kolachevsky and V. Sorokin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.0877},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
4 pages, 6 figures