dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaMagneto-optical trap for metastable helium at 389 nm
| Authors | J. C. J. Koelemeij, R. J. W. Stas, W. Hogervorst, W. Vassen |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0210060 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210060 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.67.053406 |
Abstract
We have constructed a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for metastable triplet helium atoms utilizing the 2 3S1 -> 3 3P2 line at 389 nm as the trapping and cooling transition. The far-red-detuned MOT (detuning Delta = -41 MHz) typically contains few times 10^7 atoms at a relatively high (~10^9 cm^-3) density, which is a consequence of the large momentum transfer per photon at 389 nm and a small two-body loss rate coefficient (2 * 10^-10 cm^3/s < beta < 1.0 * 10^-9 cm^3/s). The two-body loss rate is more than five times smaller than in a MOT on the commonly used 2 3S1 -> 2 3P2 line at 1083 nm. Furthermore, we measure a temperature of 0.46(1) mK, a factor 2.5 lower as compared to the 1083 nm case. Decreasing the detuning to Delta= -9 MHz results in a cloud temperature as low as 0.25(1) mK, at small number of trapped atoms. The 389 nm MOT exhibits small losses due to two-photon ionization, which have been investigated as well.
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"abstract": "We have constructed a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for metastable triplet\nhelium atoms utilizing the 2 3S1 -\u003e 3 3P2 line at 389 nm as the trapping and\ncooling transition. The far-red-detuned MOT (detuning Delta = -41 MHz)\ntypically contains few times 10^7 atoms at a relatively high (~10^9 cm^-3)\ndensity, which is a consequence of the large momentum transfer per photon at\n389 nm and a small two-body loss rate coefficient (2 * 10^-10 cm^3/s \u003c beta \u003c\n1.0 * 10^-9 cm^3/s). The two-body loss rate is more than five times smaller\nthan in a MOT on the commonly used 2 3S1 -\u003e 2 3P2 line at 1083 nm. Furthermore,\nwe measure a temperature of 0.46(1) mK, a factor 2.5 lower as compared to the\n1083 nm case. Decreasing the detuning to Delta= -9 MHz results in a cloud\ntemperature as low as 0.25(1) mK, at small number of trapped atoms. The 389 nm\nMOT exhibits small losses due to two-photon ionization, which have been\ninvestigated as well.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0210060",
"authors": [
"J. C. J. Koelemeij",
"R. J. W. Stas",
"W. Hogervorst",
"W. Vassen"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.67.053406",
"title": "Magneto-optical trap for metastable helium at 389 nm",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210060"
},
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