(1) Kansai Advanced Research Center, Communications Research Laboratory, Iwaoka, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, 651-24 Hyogo, Japan;(2) Faculty of Engineering, Kagoshima University, Kohrimoto, Kagoshima-shi, 890 Kagoshima, Japan
Abstract:
This paper describes trapping and laser cooling of a Ca+ ion in an rf quadrupole ion trap. A single Ca+ ion is laser cooled to below 130 mK and quantum jumps are observed by exciting the ion into the metastable D5/2 state via the P3/2 state. The lifetime of the metastable D5/2 state is estimated from the distribution of the dark periods of the quantum-jump signal. Collision-induced jumps between the metastable D3/2 state and the D5/2 state in a background gas are also directly observed.