Magneto optical trap for neutral mercury atoms

Due to its low sensitivity to blackbody radiation, neutral mercury is a good candidate for the most accurate optical lattice clock. Here we report the observation of cold mercury atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Because of the high vapor pressure at room temperature, the mercury source and the cold pump were cooled down to 40℃ and 70 ℃, respectively, to keep the science chamber in an ultra-high vacuum of 6×10 9 Pa. Limited by the power of the UV cooling laser, the one beam folded MOT configuration was adopted, and 1.5×10 5 Hg-202 atoms were observed by fluorescence detection.     

Optimization of polarization spectroscopy for rubidium D lines

Polarization spectroscopy of the D lines of rubidium atoms is investigated experimentally,especially with different pump powers and cell temperatures.We find that there are four candidate transitions suitable for frequency stabilization,and optimal pump powers and cell temperatures are also presented to obtain a perfect signal with maximal amplitude and slope.The optimal signal is insensitive to the fluctuations of laser power and the temperature,which can enhance the performance of frequency locking.