High-resolution laser spectroscopy of ultracold ytterbium atoms using spin-forbidden electric quadrupole transition

We have successfully observed high-resolution spectra of spin-forbidden electric quadrupole transition (¹ S ₀→³ D ₂) in ytterbium (¹⁷⁴Yb) atoms. The differential light shifts between the ¹ S ₀ and the ³ D ₂ states in a far-off resonant trap at 532 nm are also measured. For the spectroscopy, we developed simple, narrow-linewidth, and long-term frequency stabilized violet diode laser systems. Long-term drifts of the excitation laser (404 nm) is suppressed by locking the laser to a length stabilized optical cavity. The optical path length of the cavity is stabilized to another diode laser whose frequency is locked to a strong ¹ S ₀→¹ P ₁ transition (399 nm) of Yb. Both lasers are standard extended-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs) in the Littrow configuration. Since the linewidth of a violet ECDL (～10 MHz) is broader than a typical value of a red or near infra-red ECDL (<1 MHz), we employ optical feedback from a narrow-band Fabry–Perot cavity to reduce the linewidth. The linewidth is expected to be <20 kHz for 1 ms averaging time, and the long-term frequency stability is estimated to be ～200 kHz/h.     

Giant helium dimers produced by photoassociation of ultracold metastable atoms

We produce giant, purely long-range helium dimers by photoassociation of metastable helium atoms in a magnetically trapped, ultracold cloud. The photoassociation laser is detuned close to the atomic 2(3)S1-2(3)P0 line and produces strong heating of the sample when resonant with molecular bound states. The temperature of the cloud serves as an indicator of the molecular spectrum. We report good agreement between our spectroscopic measurements and our calculations of the five bound states belonging to a 0(+)(u) purely long-range potential well. These previously unobserved states have classical inner turning points of about 150a(0) and outer turning points as large as 1150a(0).     

Formation of ultracold RbCs molecules by photoassociation

The formation of ultracold metastable RbCs molecules is observed in a double species magneto-optical trap through photoassociation below the ⁸⁵Rb(5S_1/2) + ¹³³Cs(6P_3/2) dissociation limit followed by spontaneous emission. The molecules are detected by resonance enhanced two-photon ionization. Using accurate quantum chemistry calculations of the potential energy curves and transition dipole moment, we interpret the observed photoassociation process as occurring at short internuclear distance, in contrast with most previous cold atom photoassociation studies. The vibrational levels excited by photoassociation belong to the 5th 0⁺ or the 4th 0^? electronic states correlated to the Rb(5P_{1/2, 3/2}) + Cs(6S_1/2) dissociation limit. The computed vibrational distribution of the produced molecules shows that they are stabilized in deeply bound vibrational states of the lowest triplet state. We also predict that a noticeable fraction of molecules is produced in the lowest level of the electronic ground state.     

A diode laser system for spectroscopy of the ultranarrow transition in ytterbium atoms

A narrow-line diode laser system has been developed for high-resolution spectroscopy of the magnetic quadrupole transition in ytterbium (Yb) atoms at 507 nm. The system consists of an extended-cavity laser diode at 1014 nm, a tapered amplifier and a periodically poled lithium niobate nonlinear crystal which converts the wavelength from 1014 nm to 507 nm. We have stabilized the laser frequency and reduced the linewidth below 1 kHz by tightly locking the laser to a high-finesse optical cavity. By using the developed laser system, we have successfully observed the ultranarrow transition in Yb atoms. Furthermore, our simple and compact laser system could be a high performance and portable frequency reference using iodine spectra whose linewidth becomes less than 50 kHz around 507 nm. We have also demonstrated spectroscopy of iodine molecules. PACS 32.30.-r; 07.60.-j     

Photoassociation spectroscopy of laser-cooled ytterbium atoms

We report the photoassociation spectroscopy of laser-cooled ytterbium atoms in an optical trap. We observed more than 90 photoassociation resonances of vibrational levels in the (1)Sigma(+)(u) state, including 80 consecutive series, up to 490 GHz detuning with respect to the atomic resonance. From the resonance frequencies we derived the atomic radiative lifetime of the (6s6p) 1P1 state to be 5.464+/-0.005 ns, which is about 2 orders of magnitude improvement over previous results. We also observed line broadening of resonances, which is ascribed to the predissociation to the triplet states, and estimated the transition probability to be 0.2. Furthermore, we observed the decrease of the photoassociation signal intensity, from which the scattering length is estimated to be equal to or less than 3 nm.     

Time-dependent analysis of tunneling effect in the formation of ultracold molecules via photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms

The paper contains a time-dependent investigation of the tunneling effect observed in the photoassociation spectrum of Cs₂ and attributed to the 0_g ^-(6s, 6p _3/2) double well. When by photoassociation of two cold cesium atoms a vibrational level of the outer well is populated, tunneling is an efficient mechanism for transferring the population to the inner well (R < 15a ₀), where spontaneous emission may lead to formation of cold molecules in low vibrational levels of the a ³Σ⁺ _u(6s, 6s) electronic state. This tunneling effect is analyzed by wavepackets propagation, first considering the double well potential alone, and following a packet made by a superposition of states initially located at large distances. Characteristic times for the vibration dynamics, corresponding to a beating phenomenon between the two wells, to partial “revival” at large distances, and to maxima in the population localized in the inner well are reported and discussed. Second, we simulate the two-channels a ³Σ⁺ _u(6s, 6s)↦0_g ^-(6s, 6p _3/2) photoassociation at detunings around 2.9 cm^-1: the inner well can be populated either by the excitation of a vibrational level of the external well (resonant excitation), or by tuning the photoassociation laser at the energy of the inner well level which displays tunneling (“off-resonance excitation”). In the first case the photoassociation is efficient, while the tunneling probability is small; in the second, the tunneling probability is large, so that despite the poor efficiency of the photoassociation process, more population can be transferred to the inner well. This second choice is shown to be very sensitive to the laser intensity, which could be used to control the population of the inner well and hence the formation of ultracold molecules in low vibrational levels. Received 19 April 2002 Published online 1st October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: francoise.masnou@lac.u-psud.fr     

Measuring the one-particle excitations of ultracold fermionic atoms by stimulated Raman spectroscopy

We propose a Raman spectroscopy technique which is able to probe the one-particle Green function, the Fermi surface, and the quasiparticles of a gas of strongly interacting ultracold atoms. We give quantitative examples of experimentally accessible spectra. The efficiency of the method is validated by means of simulated images for the case of a usual Fermi liquid as well as for more exotic states: specific signatures of, e.g., a d-wave pseudogap are clearly visible.     

冷镱原子精密光谱的研究进展

文章简要介绍了冷原子精密光谱研究方面的重要进展,报道了作者所在课题组近年来在镱原子的激光冷却与囚禁、光晶格中冷镱原子的量子操控、冷镱原子钟跃迁谱的精密测量、冷镱原子光钟的闭环锁定和频率稳定性测量等方面所取得的最新研究结果,最后对光学原子钟的发展进行了展望。     

High sensitive photoassociation spectroscopy based on modulated ultra-cold Cs atoms

In this paper, a high sensitive photoassociation spectroscopy based on modulated ultra-cold cesium atoms is reported. The cold cesium gas in the magneto-optical trap is illuminated by a photoassociation laser with red detuning 40 cm^-1 below the 6S _1/2+6P _3/2 dissociation limit and photoassociation to the excited state ultra-cold molecules is observed. The rotationally bound levels of 0_g ^- state are well resolved using the lock-in detection. The 0_g ^-, 1_g and 0_u ⁺ long range states which connect to this dissociation limit are measured. The long-range dipole–dipole interaction constants are determined through a fit of the experimental energy levels. PACS 33.15.Mt; 33.20.Vq; 32.80.Pj     

Effect of external magnetic field on the shift of resonant frequency in photoassociation of ultracold Cs atoms

We study the influence of external magnetic field on the shift of the resonant frequency in the photoassociation of ultracold Cs atoms, which are captured in a magnetically levitated optical crossed dipole trap. With the increase of the photoassociation laser intensity, the linear variation of the frequency shift is measured by recording the photoassociation spectra of the long-range 0_u~+ state of Cs molecule below the 6S_(1/2)+ 6P_(1/2) dissociation limit at different magnetic fields.The slope of the frequency shift to the intensity of the photoassociation laser exhibits a strong dependence on the external magnetic field. The experimental data is simulated with an analytic theory model, in which a single channel rectangular potential with the tunable well depth is introduced to acquire the influence of the magnetic field on the atomic behavior in the effective range where photoassociation occurs.     

Coherent transients in the femtosecond photoassociation of ultracold molecules

We demonstrate the photoassociation of ultracold rubidium dimers using coherent femtosecond pulses. Starting from a cloud of ultracold rubidium atoms, electronically excited rubidium molecules are formed with shaped photoassociation pump pulses. The excited state molecules are projected with a time-delayed probe pulse onto molecular ion states which are detected in a mass spectrometer. Coherent transient oscillations of the excited state population are observed in the wings of the pump pulse, in agreement with the time-dependent solution of the Schr?dinger equation of the excitation process.     

Simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of lithium and ytterbium atoms towards production of ultracold polar molecules

We have successfully implemented the first simultaneous magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of lithium (⁶Li) and ytterbium (¹⁷⁴Yb) atoms towards production of ultracold polar molecules of LiYb. For this purpose, we developed the dual atomic oven which contains both atomic species as an atom source and successfully observed the spectra of the Li and Yb atoms in the atomic beams from the dual atomic oven. We constructed the vacuum chamber including the glass cell with the windows made of zinc selenium (ZnSe) for the CO₂ lasers, which are the useful light sources of optical trapping for evaporative and sympathetic cooling. Typical atom numbers and temperatures in the compressed MOT are 7×10³ atoms, 640 μK for ⁶Li, 7×10⁴ atoms, and 60 μK for ¹⁷⁴Yb, respectively.     

Probing number squeezing of ultracold atoms across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition

The evolution of on-site number fluctuations of ultracold atoms in optical lattices is experimentally investigated by monitoring the suppression of spin-changing collisions across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition. For low atom numbers, corresponding to an average filling factor close to unity, large on-site number fluctuations are necessary for spin-changing collisions to occur. The continuous suppression of spin-changing collisions is thus direct evidence for the emergence of number-squeezed states. In the Mott insulator regime, we find that spin-changing collisions are suppressed until a threshold atom number, consistent with the number where a Mott plateau with doubly occupied sites is expected to form.     

A robust method for frequency stabilization of 556-nm laser operating at the intercombination transition of ytterbium

A frequency-stabilized 556-nm laser is an essential tool for experimental studies associated with 1 S 0-3 P 1 intercombination transition of ytterbium (Yb) atoms.A 556-nm laser light using a single-pass second harmonic generation (SHG) is obtained in a periodically poled MgO:LiNbO 3 (PPLN) crystal pumped by a fiber laser at 1111.6 nm.A robust frequency stabilization method which facilitates the control of laser frequency with an accuracy better than the natural linewidth (187 kHz) of the intercombination line is developed.The short-term frequency jitter is reduced to less than 100 kHz by locking the laser to a home-made reference cavity.A slow frequency drift is sensed by the 556-nm fluorescence signal of an Yb atomic beam excited by one probe beam and is reduced to less than 50-kHz by a computer-controlled servo system.The laser can be stably locked for more than 5 h.This frequency stabilization method can be extended to other alkaline-earth-like atoms with similar weak intercombination lines.     

Precise measurement of the line width of the photoassociation spectra of ultracold molecules by using a frequency shifter

We propose a technique to precisely measure the line width of the photoassociation spectra of the excited cesium molecule by using a frequency shifter to generate two laser beams with a precise frequency difference. A series of photoassociation (PA) spectra are recorded with two laser beam induced molecular lines, whose peak separation serves as an accurate frequency ruler to measure the line width of the PA spectra. The full width half maximum line width was studied as a function of PA laser intensity. The extrapolated value at zero laser intensity is (34.84 ± 0.22) MHz. By analyzing other broadening mechanisms, a value of (32.02 ± 0.70) MHz was deduced. It is shown that this scheme is inexpensive, simple, robust, and is promising for applications in a variety of other atomic species.     

Narrow-line diode laser system for laser cooling of strontium atoms on the intercombination transition

We report a diode laser system developed for narrow-line cooling and trapping on the ¹S₀–³P₁ intercombination transition of neutral strontium atoms. Doppler cooling on this spin-forbidden transition with a line width of /2=7.1 kHz enables us to achieve sub-K temperatures in a two-step cooling process. The required reduction of the laser line width to the kHz level was achieved by locking the laser to a tunable Fabry–Pérot cavity. The long-term drift (>0.1 s) of the reference cavity was compensated by employing the saturated absorption signal obtained from Sr vapor in a heat pipe of novel design. We demonstrate the potential of the system by performing spectroscopy of Sr atoms confined to the Lamb–Dicke regime in a one-dimensional optical lattice. PACS 32.80.Pj; 39.30.+w; 42.55.Px     

基于振幅调制的超冷铯原子高分辨光缔合光谱的实验研究

基于振幅调制的超冷铯原子高分辨光谱的实验研究，用相对于铯分子6S_1/2+6P_3/2离解限红失谐的光缔合激光作用于磁光阱中超冷铯原子，观察到通过光缔合产生的激发态超冷分子.在实验中，为了得到高信号-噪声比的光缔合光谱，利用声光调制器对俘获光进行振幅调制，将探测到的超冷铯原子的荧光信号利用lock-in技术解调.同时利用密度矩阵方程系统地分析了实验结果.     

Probing superfluidity of periodically trapped ultracold atoms in a cavity by transmission spectroscopy

We study a system of periodic Bose-condensed atoms coupled to cavity photons using the input-output formalism of [14]. We show for the first time that the cavity will either act as a through-pass Lorentzian filter when the superfluid fraction of the condensate is minimum, or completely reflect the input field when the superfluid fraction is maximum. We show that by monitoring the ratio between the transmitted field and the reflected field, one can estimate the superfluid fraction.