3d D lifetime in laser cooled Ca : Influence of cooling laser power

We have measured the lifetime of the metastable 3D _5/2 level in Ca⁺ using the “quantum jump" technique on a single stored and laser cooled ion in a linear Paul trap. We found a linear dependence of the measured decay rate on the power of the laser which repumps the ions from the long lived 3D _3/2 level. This can be explained by off-resonant depletion of the 3D _5/2 level. The proper lifetime of this level is obtained by a linear extrapolation of the measured lifetime to zero laser power. We obtain 1100(18) ms in agreement with theoretical calculations. The observed systematic change of the decay rate resolves discrepancies between earlier experiments in which this effect had not been considered. Measurements on a linear chain of 10 laser cooled ions showed unexpected frequent coincidences of quantum jumps within our observation time of 20 ms. This indicates a so far unexplained correlation between the ions in the chain at large distances. Received 3 March 1999     

Lifetime of metastable fluorine atoms

For laser collimation of neutral F atoms, a resonance transition cycle between the metastable and the upper excited states (3s⁴ P _5/2?3p⁴ D ⁰ _7/2) can be used as a two-level closed system. We have determined the lifetime of the metastable state (3s⁴ P _5/2) in F atoms by measuring the decay curve of the fluorescence intensity as a function of distance from the plasma source. Combining the measured velocity of F radicals from the Doppler shift of the fluorescence peak, we have obtained the lifetime of the F metastable state as 3.7±0.5 μs. With this short metastable lifetime of F radicals, the simple Doppler cooling method using spontaneous light force is not practical for laser collimation of F radicals. Use of stimulated light force may be necessary to collimate F radical beams in a short distance. Received: 4 July 2000 / Published online: 13 September 2000     

Laser cooling of 171Yb+ ions in a linear paul trap

We report laser cooling of trapped ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ ions. The ions are confined in a linear Paul trap. Temperatures below 1 K have been achieved, and evidence of a phase transition to a crystal-like state has been observed. The metastable ² D _3/2 level is drained using a transition at 609.1 nm not previously used for this purpose. Laser cooling of ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ may be of importance to the development of new microwave frequency standards.     

Laser cooling of trapped Yb+

¹⁷²Yb⁺ ions in an rf trap have been laser cooled for the first time by driving the ² S _1/2–² P _1/2 transition at 369.5 nm. It was necessary to irradiate the ions with 2.438 m infra-red radiation to depopulate the metastable ² D _3/2 state. An upper limit on ion energies was determined by observing the size of the trapped cloud and corresponds to a temperature below 2 K. Cooled ion lineshapes were compared with simulations and coherence nulls were observed in the infra-red frequency scans.     

Quantized infrared-optical triple resonance on a single cold barium ion

A single trapped and cooled Ba⁺ ion is irradiated by resonant visible light (493, 650 nm) alternating with light at 1.76 µm which may excite the ion to its² D _5/2 metastable state. The (absence of) visible resonance scattering probes the excitation, tuning spectra of which show vibrational sidebands that characterize the ion's temperature. Observed values as low as 120 µK, one-eighth the Doppler limit, are ascribed to electronic Raman cooling by the visible light. Tuning spectra of the events of stimulated deexcitation indicate ion heating by the IR interaction. The results demonstrate the feasibility of vibrational spectrometry on a single particle that oscillates in a potential well, forming a quasi-molecule.     

Ion storage technique for very long living states: The decay rate of the 5D 3/2 state of Ba II

The metastable 5D _3/2 state of Ba⁺ is used to demonstrate the possibility of the ion storage technique for the measurement of extremely long lived states. The ions are confined in a r.f. quadrupole trap and excited by a strong pulsed tunable dye laser to the 6P _1/2 state which partially decays into the 5D _3/2 state. Sampling of the time development of the ground state population leads to the determination of the 5D _3/2 decay rate. Using He as a buffer gas at a pressure of about 10^?6 mbar to initially store the ions, varying the gas density and extrapolating to zero pressure, we find for the lifetime \(\tau _{D_{3/2} } = 17.5 \pm 4s\) .     

Lifetime measurement of the (5d6p)3D3 state of barium by dye-laser spectroscopy

We have measured the radiative lifetime of the (5d6p)³D₃ state of barium by Hanle effect. This state was populated by cw dye laser excitation of an atomic beam of Ba in the metastable (5d6s)³D₃ state. The metastable state was populated by a dc discharge. With dye laser excitation, the shape of the Hanle effect curve is strongly modified due to optical pumping of the metastable state. A brief discussion of the expected and observed signal shapes is given. The radiative lifetime of the (5d6p)³D₃ state is measured to be τ = 10.2 ± 1.5 ns.     

Preliminary frequency measurement of the electric quadrupole transition in a single laser-cooled 40Ca+ ion

The trapping and laser cooling of ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion on the way toward optical frequency standards have been developed. A single ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion is trapped in the miniature Paul trap and laser cooled by two frequency-stabilized diode lasers. A commercial Ti:Sapphire laser system at 729 nm is referenced to a high-finesse cavity to meet the requirements of ultra narrow linewidth of the 4s²S_1/2-3d²D_5/2 electric quadrupole transition. Its center frequency is preliminarily measured to be 411 042 129 686.1 (2.6) kHz. The attempt to finally lock the 729-nm laser system to atomic transition is made. Further work to improve the accuracy of measurement and the stabilization of system locking is in consideration and preparation.     

Phase-locked light sources with low-phase noise for manipulating terahertz-separated metastable states in 40Ca+

We report the development of phase-locked light sources for manipulating terahertz-separated metastable states in ⁴⁰Ca⁺. Two Ti:sapphire lasers with frequencies separated by 1.82 THz are phase-locked using an optical comb generator. The obtained phase noise is 49.8 mrad when the phase-locked loop is closed. Using the developed light sources, we excite Rabi oscillations between the terahertz-separated 3²D_3/2 and 3²D_5/2 states in ⁴⁰Ca⁺. We discuss the phase noises of the light sources and their effect on excitation of Rabi oscillations.     

Lifetime measurements of metastable states in CRYRING

Collinear ion beam laser spectroscopy has been utilized in the ion storage ring CRYRING in order to measure lifetimes of metastable states in singly charged ions. The laser light has been used for selective probing of the population decay of individual fine structure or hyperfine structure states. With the use of a mechanical shutter, time resolved studies could be performed with millisecond resolution. In another experiment, the cw laser light was used to optically pump stored ions from the ground state into a specific metastable state. With most of the stored ions in the metastable state, direct observation of the decay of the forbidden transition from the metastable state to the ground state could be observed passively. Measurements of metastable lifetimes in Ca⁺, Sr⁺, Xe⁺ and Eu⁺ will be discussed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Preliminary frequency measurement of the electric quadrupole transition in a single laser-cooled 40Ca+ ion

The trapping and laser cooling of ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion on the way toward optical frequency standards have been developed. A single ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion is trapped in the miniature Paul trap and laser cooled by two frequency-stabilized diode lasers. A commercial Ti:Sapphire laser system at 729 nm is referenced to a high-finesse cavity to meet the requirements of ultra narrow linewidth of the 4s²S_1/2-3d²D_5/2 electric quadrupole transition. Its center frequency is preliminarily measured to be 411 042 129 686.1 (2.6) kHz. The attempt to finally lock the 729-nm laser system to atomic transition is made. Further work to improve the accuracy of measurement and the stabilization of system locking is in consideration and preparation.      

Observation of motional sidebands in single 40Ca+ ions with improved detection efficiency

A method for effectively removing background photons and improving the signal-to-background ratio in detection of fluorescence from a single cooled ion is described. In the method, an additional spatial filter placed at an off-focal position is used to remove scattered photons from trap-electrode surfaces. A signal-to-background ratio of more than 200 is obtained. By using this setup, a resolved carrier and motional sidebands on the 4²S_1/2–3²D_5/2 electric quadrupole transition in ⁴⁰ Ca⁺ are observed.     

Hyperfine structure of 5d 2 D 3/2 135,137Ba ions by collinear fast beam laser-rf double resonance spectroscopy

The hyperfine structure of the metastable 5d ² D _3/2 state has been measured with high precision by collinear laser-rf double resonance spectroscopy on fast^135,137Ba ion beams. The present data are about 100 times more accurate than those obtained by classical fast beam laser spectroscopy.     

2-photon ionization for efficient seeding and trapping of strontium ions

We describe an efficient way to photoionize strontium atoms in a linear radio-frequency trap. We use a 2-photon second order process to excite the autoionization resonance (4d²+5p²) ¹D₂ in neutral strontium (Sr). A doubled Ti:sapphire laser system is used at 431 nm to provide 100 fs pulses at 82 MHz. The fabrication of the laser systems for addressing the Sr⁺ transitions necessary for laser cooling and excitation of quantum jumps, vacuum system and ion trap structure are also described. With the current setup a easy and repeatable trapping of linear ion chains is readily achieved at very low Sr vapor pressures.     

Effect of helium/argon gas ratio in a He-Ar-Cu<Superscript>+</Superscript> IR hollow-cathode discharge laser: modeling study and comparison with experiments

The He-Ar-Cu⁺ IR laser operates in a hollow-cathode discharge, typically in a mixture of helium with a few-% Ar. The population inversion of the Cu⁺ ion levels, responsible for laser action, is attributed to asymmetric charge transfer between He⁺ ions and sputtered Cu atoms. The Ar gas is added to promote sputtering of the Cu cathode. In this paper, a hybrid modeling network consisting of several different models for the various plasma species present in a He-Ar-Cu hollow-cathode discharge is applied to investigate the effect of Ar concentration in the gas mixture on the discharge behavior, and to find the optimum He/Ar gas ratio for laser operation. It is found that the densities of electrons, Ar⁺ ions, Ar_m ^* metastable atoms, sputtered Cu atoms and Cu⁺ ions increase upon the addition of more Ar gas, whereas the densities of He⁺ ions, He₂ ⁺ ions and He_m ^* metastable atoms drop considerably. The product of the calculated Cu atom and He⁺ ion densities, which determines the production rate of the upper laser levels, and hence probably also the laser output power, is found to reach a maximum around 1–5 % Ar addition. This calculation result is compared to experimental measurements, and reasonable agreement has been reached. Received: 14 October 2002 / Revised version: 28 November 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +32-3/820-23-76, E-mail: annemie.bogaerts@ua.ac.be     

Optogalvanic spectroscopy of metastable states in Yb+

The metastable ²F_7/2 and ²D_3/2 states of Yb⁺ are of interest for applications in metrology and quantum information and also act as dark states in laser cooling. These metastable states are commonly repumped to the ground state via the 638.6 nm ²F_7/2–¹D[5/2]_5/2 and 935.2?nm ²D_3/2–³D[3/2]_1/2 transitions. We have performed optogalvanic spectroscopy of these transitions in Yb⁺ ions generated in a discharge. We measure the pressure broadening coefficient for the 638.6 nm transition to be 70±10?MHz?mbar^?1. We place an upper bound of 375 MHz/nucleon on the 638.6 nm isotope splitting and show that our observations are consistent with theory for the hyperfine splitting. Our measurements of the 935.2 nm transition extend those made by Sugiyama et al., showing well-resolved isotope and hyperfine splitting (Sugiyama and Yoda in IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 44: 140, 1995). We obtain high signal-to-noise, sufficient for laser stabilisation applications (Streed et al. in Appl. Phys. Lett. 93: 071103, 2008).     

A 729 nm laser with ultra-narrow linewidth for probing 4S1/2-3D5/2 clock transition of Ca

A Coherent Inc. Ti:sapphire laser MBR-110 is locked to a temperature-controlled high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity supported on an isolated platform. The linewidth is measured by locking the laser to another similar super-cavity at the same time and the heterodyne beatnote between two laser beams that locked to different cavities determines the linewidth. The result shows that the laser's linewidth is suppressed to be 41 Hz. The long-term drift is measured with a femtosecond comb and determined to be ~ 0.1 Hz/s. This laser is used to probe the 4S_1/2-3D_5/2 clock transition of a single ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion. The Zeeman components of the clock transition with a linewidth of 160 Hz have been observed.     

Precision spectroscopy with two correlated atoms

We discuss techniques that allow for long coherence times in laser spectroscopy experiments with two trapped ions. We show that for this purpose not only entangled ions prepared in decoherence-free subspaces can be used but also a pair of ions that are not entangled but subject to the same kind of phase noise. We apply this technique to a measurement of the electric quadrupole moment of the 3d²D_5/2 state of ⁴⁰Ca⁺ and to a measurement of the line width of an ultra-stable laser exciting a pair of ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ions. PACS 03.67.-a; 06.30.Ft; 37.10.Ty     

Monitoring of the lifetimes of the metastable states in Au in an air-acetylene flame as a probe for local stoichiometric conditions by the laser-enhanced ionization technique

The behaviour of the lifetimes of the metastable 5d ⁹ 6s ^{2 2} D _3/2 and 5d ⁹ 6s ^{2 2} D _5/2 states in Au in an air/acetylene flame has been studied using the step-wise delayed laser-enhanced ionization technique. Using a new, fast and reliable, automated experimental procedure, we have conducted a systematic investigation of the lifetimes for various flame characteristics, namely lateral and vertical position in the flame and flame composition. It was found that the lifetimes of the metastable states are affected by at least three different mechanisms: i) a rather small but almost constant quenching rate, unaffected by the variations in the flame environment; ii) quenching by oxygen, which is proportional to the local partial pressure of oxygen; and iii) quenching by unburned fuel components. We have shown that by monitoring the lifetime of a metastable state as a function of various flame parameters, the conditions for local stoichiometry in the flame can be determined by this technique.     

纳秒激光诱导铜等离子体中原子激发态5s′~4D_(7/2)的瞬态特性研究

利用时间分辨光谱技术,研究了激光诱导Cu等离子体中激发态5s′4D7/2的形成及其辐射跃迁的瞬态特性.结果表明:在激发态5s′4D7/2原子的制备过程中,电子离子复合、粒子间碰撞机理在不同时刻分别起主导作用.激光峰值到达金属表面后500ns期间,粒子间的剧烈碰撞作用使得激发态5s′4D7/2主要通过向低能态4p′4F9o/2跃迁来转移能量.500ns以后,激发态5s′4D7/2通过以相同的概率辐射CuI465.11nm和CuI529.25nm特征谱线向低能态4p′4F9o/2和4p′4D7o/2转移能量.