We report on the realization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for metastable strontium operating on the 2.92 $μ$m transition between the energy levels $5s5p~^3\mathrm{P}_2$ and $5s4d~^3\mathrm{D}_3$. The strontium atoms are initially captured in a MOT operating on the 461 nm transition between the energy levels $5s^2~^1\mathrm{S}_0$ and $5s5p~^1\mathrm{P}_1$, prior to being transferred into the metastable MOT and cooled to a final temperature of 6 $μ$K. Challenges arising from aligning the mid-infrared and 461 nm light are mitigated by employing the same pyramid reflector to realize both MOTs. Finally, the 2.92 $μ$m transition is used to realize a full cooling sequence for an optical lattice clock, in which cold samples of $^{87}\mathrm{Sr}$ are loaded into a magic-wavelength optical lattice and initialized in a spin-polarized state to allow high-precision spectroscopy of the $5s^2~^1\mathrm{S}_0$ to $5s5p~^3\mathrm{P}_0$ clock transition.
We have measured the lifetime of the 5s5p ^3P_2 metastable state of strontium atoms by magneto-optically trapping the decayed atoms to the ground state, which allowed sensitive detection of the rare decay events. We found that the blackbody radiation-induced decay was the dominant decay channel for the state at T = 300 K. The lifetime was determined to be 500^{+280}_{-130} s in the limit of zero temperature.
We report the magnetic trapping of metastable $^3P_2$ atomic strontium. Atoms are cooled in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the dipole allowed $^1S_0-^1P_1$ transition at 461 nm. Decay via $^1P_1\to {^1D_2}\to {^3P_2}$ continuously loads a magnetic trap formed by the quadrupole magnetic field of the MOT. Over $10^8$ atoms at a density of $8 \times 10^9$ cm$^{-3}$ and temperature of 1 mK are trapped. The atom temperature is significantly lower than what would be expected from the kinetic and potential energy of atoms as they are transferred from the MOT. This suggests that thermalizat…
We report on the realization of a transversely loaded two-dimensional magneto-optical trap serving as a source for cold strontium atoms. We analyze the dependence of the source's properties on various parameters, in particular the intensity of a pushing beam accelerating the atoms out of the source. An atomic flux exceeding $10^9\,\mathrm{atoms/s}$ at a rather moderate oven temperature of $500\,^\circ\mathrm{C}$ is achieved. The longitudinal velocity of the atomic beam can be tuned over several tens of m/s by adjusting the power of the pushing laser beam. The beam divergence is around $60$ mra…
Universal gates for a metastable qubit in strontium-88
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik（马克斯·普朗克量子光学研究所）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）；Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität（慕尼黑大学物理学院）
We improve the efficiency of sawtooth-wave-adiabatic-passage (SWAP) cooling for strontium atoms in three dimensions and combine it with standard narrow-line laser cooling. With this technique, we create strontium magneto-optical traps with $6\times 10^7$ bosonic $^{88}$Sr ($1\times 10^7$ fermionic $^{87}$Sr) atoms at phase-space densities of $2\times 10^{-3}$ ($1.4\times 10^{-4}$). Our method is simple to implement and is faster and more robust than traditional cooling methods.
The theoretical description of the external degrees of freedom of atoms trapped inside a magneto-optical trap (MOT) often relies on the decoupling of the evolution of the internal and external degrees of freedom. That is possible thanks to much shorter timescales typically associated with the first ones. The electronic structure of alkaline-earth atoms, on the other hand, presents ultra-narrow transitions and metastable states that makes such an approximation invalid in the general case. In this article, we report on a model based on open Bloch equations for the evolution of the number of atom…
In the presence of an external static magnetic field, an atomic gas becomes optically active, showing magneto-optical rotation. In the saturated regime, the coherences among the excited substates give a nonlinear contribution to the rotation of the light polarization. In contrast with the linear magneto-optical rotation, the nonlinear counterpart is insensitive to Doppler broadening. By varying the temperature of a cold strontium gas, we observe both regimes by driving the $J=0\rightarrow J=1$ transition on the intercombination line. For this narrow transition, the sensitivity to the static ma…
A steady-state magneto-optical trap (MOT) of fermionic strontium atoms operating on the 7.5 kHz-wide ${^1\mathrm{S}_0} - {^3\mathrm{P}_1}$ transition is demonstrated. This MOT features $8.4 \times 10^{7}$ atoms, a loading rate of $1.3\times 10^{7}$atoms/s, and an average temperature of 12 $μ$K. These parameters make it well suited to serve as a source of atoms for continuous-wave superradiant lasers operating on strontium's mHz-wide clock transition. Such lasers have only been demonstrated using pulsed Sr sources, limiting their range of applications. Our MOT makes an important step toward con…
We demonstrate enhanced loading of strontium atoms into a magneto-optical trap using a repumping scheme from the metastable state via the doubly-excited state $5\mathrm{s}5\mathrm{p}\,^3\mathrm{P}_2 \rightarrow 5\mathrm{p}^2\,^3\mathrm{P}_2$ at $481~\mathrm{nm}$. The number of trapped atoms is increased by an order of magnitude. The frequency and intensity dependence of the atom number enhancement, with respect to the non-repumping case, is well reproduced by a simple rate equation model, which also describes single-laser repumping schemes reported previously. The repumping scheme is limited b…
We describe frequency stabilization of a laser at 707.202 nm wavelength using FM spectroscopy in a hollow cathode lamp. The laser is stabilized to the $^{88}$Sr metastable $^3\mathrm{P}_2$ to $^3\mathrm{S}_1$ optical transition. The stabilized laser is utilized for laser-cooling and trapping of strontium atoms. We also briefly describe the performance of a polarization spectroscopy lock of our blue MOT laser at 461 nm derived simultaneously from the same hollow cathode lamp.
We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7-kHz-wide 689-nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed using the broad transition at 461 nm. As in the similar setting of calcium beam clocks, this enhances dramatically the signal strength as compared to direct saturated fluorescence or absorption spectroscopy of the narrow line. We implement shelving spectroscopy both in directed atomic beams and hot vapor cells with isotropic atomic velocities. We measure a frac…
We describe an experimental apparatus capable of achieving a high loading rate of strontium atoms in a magneto-optical trap operating in a high vacuum environment. A key innovation of this setup is a two dimensional magneto-optical trap deflector located after a Zeeman slower. We find a loading rate of 6x10^9/s whereas the lifetime of the magnetically trapped atoms in the 3P2 state is 54s.
We perform spectroscopy on the optical dipole transitions 5s5p $^3$P$_2$ - 5s$n$d $^3$D$_{1,2,3}$, $n \in (5,6)$, for all stable isotopes of atomic strontium. We develop a new spectroscopy scheme, in which atoms in the metastable $^3$P$_2$ state are stored in a reservoir before being probed. The method presented here increases the attained precision and accuracy by two orders of magnitude compared to similar experiments performed in a magneto-optical trap or discharge. We show how the state distribution and velocity spread of atoms in the reservoir can be tailored to increase the spectroscopy …
We report on a technique to improve the continuous loading of atomic strontium into a magnetic trap from a Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). This is achieved by adding a depumping laser tuned to the 3P1 to 3S1 (688-nm) transition. The depumping laser increases atom number in the magnetic trap and subsequent cooling stages by up to 65 % for the bosonic isotopes and up to 30 % for the fermionic isotope of strontium. We optimize this trap loading strategy with respect to the 688-nm laser detuning, intensity, and beam size. To understand the results, we develop a one-dimensional rate equation model of t…
Accurate values of electric dipole (E1) amplitudes along with their uncertainties for a number of transitions among low-lying states of Mg$^+$, Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, and Ba$^+$ are listed by carrying out calculations using a relativistic all-order many-body method. By combining experimental wavelengths with these amplitudes, we quote transition probabilities, oscillator strengths and lifetimes of many short-lived excited states of the above ions. The uncertainties in these radiative properties are also quoted. We also give electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) amplitudes of the metastabl…
We demonstrate laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of europium. The atoms are optically pumped to a metastable state and then loaded from an atomic-beam source via conventional Zeeman slowing and magneto-optical trapping techniques using a $J=13/2\leftrightarrow J=15/2$ quasi-cyclic transition. The trapped populations contained up to $1\times 10^7$ atoms, and a two-body loss rate is estimated as $1\times10^{-10}\,\mathrm{cm^3/s}$ from the non-exponential loss of atoms at high densities. We also observed leakage out of the quasi-cyclic transition to the two metastable states with $J=9/2$…
We show that optical spectroscopy of Rydberg states can provide accurate {\em in situ} thermometry at room-temperature. Transitions from a metastable state to Rydberg states with principal quantum numbers of 25 to 30 have 200 times larger fractional frequency sensitivities to blackbody radiation than the Strontium clock transition. We demonstrate that magic wavelength lattices exist for both Strontium and Ytterbium transitions between the metastable and Rydberg states. Frequency measurements of Rydberg transitions with $10^{-16}$ accuracy provide $10 \, \mathrm{mK}$ resolution and yield a blac…
Realization of a fast triple-magic all-optical qutrit in strontium-88
Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik（马克斯·普朗克量子光学研究所）；Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST)（慕尼黑量子科学与技术中心）；Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität（路德维希-马克西米利安大学物理学院）
The first three electronically excited states in the alkaline-earth-metal atoms magnesium, calcium, and strontium comprise the (nsnp) triplet P^o_J (J=0,1,2) fine-structure manifold. All three states are metastable and are of interest for optical atomic clocks as well as for cold-collision physics. An efficient technique--based on a physically motivated potential that models the presence of the ionic core--is employed to solve the Schroedinger equation for the two-electron valence shell. In this way, radiative lifetimes, laser-induced clock shifts, and long-range interaction parameters are cal…
We present the simultaneous cooling and trapping of an isotopic mixture in a magneto-optical trap and we describe the transfer of the mixture into a conservative, far-off resonant dipole trap. The mixture is prepared with a new technique that applies to intermediate and heavy alkaline earth like atoms. In this work, 88Sr and 86Sr are simultaneously loaded first into the magneto-optical trap operated on the 1S0-3P1 spin-forbidden line at 689 nm, and then transferred into the dipole trap. We observe fast inter-species thermalization in the dipole trap which allows one to set a lower bound on the…
Collisions with background atoms are known to induce a significant shift in the frequency of state-of-the-art optical atomic clocks and contribute to state decoherence in cold atom experiments. The effects of these collisions can be quantified by measuring their cross sections. We experimentally measured the collision cross section between $^{88}$Sr$-$N$_{2}$ in a Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). The measurement was carried out by monitoring the atom number loss rate as a function of background pressure of N$_{2}$ and the cross section thus obtained was 8.1(4)$\times 10^{-18}$ m$^{2}$. The measured…
Alkaline earth Rydberg atoms are very promising tools for quantum technologies. Their highly excited outer electron provides them with the remarkable properties of Rydberg atoms and, notably, with a huge coupling to external fields or to other Rydberg atoms while the ionic core retains an optically active electron. However, low angular-momentum Rydberg states suffer almost immediate autoionization when the core is excited. Here, we demonstrate that strontium circular Rydberg atoms with a core excited in a $4D$ metastable level are impervious to autoionization over more than a few millisecond t…
We report on the design and characterization of a cold atom source for strontium (Sr) based on a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) that is directly loaded from the atom jet of a dispenser. We characterize the atom flux of the source by measuring the loading rate of a three-dimensional MOT. We find loading rates of up to $10^{8}$ atoms per second. The setup is compact, easy to construct, and has low power consumption. It addresses the long standing challenge of reducing the complexity of cold beam sources for Sr, which is relevant for optical atomic clocks and quantum simulation and co…
This review describes the production of atomic strontium samples at ultra-low temperature and at high phase-space density, and their possible use for physical studies and applications. We describe the process of loading a magneto-optical trap from an atomic beam and preparing the sample for high precision measurements. Particular emphasis is given to the applications of ultracold Sr samples, spanning from optical frequency metrology to force sensing at micrometer scale.
Miniaturized vacuum package for magneto-optical trapping of strontium
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.（德国航空航天中心）；VACOM Vakuum Komponenten & Messtechnik GmbH（VACOM真空组件与测量技术有限公司）；LPKF Laser & Electronics SE（LPKF激光与电子股份公司）；Leibniz Universität Hannover（汉诺威莱布尼茨大学）
We report on the realization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for europium atoms using a narrow-line cooling transition with a natural linewidth of 97 kHz. Our starting point is continuous capturing and cooling of optically pumped metastable europium atoms. We have employed simultaneous MOT for the metastable and ground-state atoms. The trapped metastable atoms are successively pumped back to the ground state and then continuously loaded to the narrow-line MOT, where up to $4.7\times10^7$ atoms are captured. A spin-polarized sample at a temperature of $6\,\mathrm{μK}$ and with a peak number den…
This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately $10^9$) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.
We report photoassociative spectroscopy of $^{88}$Sr$_2$ in a magneto-optical trap operating on the ${^1S_0}\to{^3P_1}$ intercombination line at 689 nm. Photoassociative transitions are driven with a laser red-detuned by 600-2400 MHz from the ${^1S_0}\to{^1P_1}$ atomic resonance at 461 nm. Photoassociation takes place at extremely large internuclear separation, and the photoassociative spectrum is strongly affected by relativistic retardation. A fit of the transition frequencies determines the ${^1P_1}$ atomic lifetime ($τ=5.22 \pm 0.03$ ns) and resolves a discrepancy between experiment and re…
We report the measurement of one-body loss rates for magnetically trapped metastable europium atoms and the study of their loss mechanism. The loss of atoms observed in a magneto-optical trap is not fully understood because of the indivisibility of the loss regarding optical pumpings due to the presence of cooling laser beams. We magnetically trapped the atoms by directly loading from the magneto-optical trap and observed almost identical one-body loss rates of approximately $2.6\,\mathrm{s^{-1}}$ for two isotopes: $\mathrm{{}^{151}Eu}$ and $\mathrm{{}^{153}Eu}$. Our rate-equation-based model,…
Magnetic quadrupole and electric octupole transitions from the configurations $4p^54d^{N+1}$ and $4p^64d^{N-1}4f$ were calculated along with magnetic dipole, electric dipole and electric quadrupole radiative transitions in quasirelativistic Hartree-Fock approximation. Their significance in determining the metastable level radiative lifetimes was investigated along several isoelectronic sequences for the ions from $Z=50$ to $Z=92$. Strontium-like ions, zirconium-like ions, molybdenum-like ions and rhodium-like ions were studied comprehensively. Remaining isoelectronic sequences with the ground …
We report on the realization of a new compact strontium optical clock using a 2-D magneto-optical-trap (2D-MOT) as cold atomic source and a multi-wavelength cavity as the frequency stabilization system. All needed optical frequencies are stabilized to a zero-thermal expansion high-finesse optical resonator and can be operated without frequency adjustments for weeks. We present the complete characterization of the apparatus. Optical control of the atomic source allows us to perform low-noise clock operation without atomic signal normalization. Long- and short-term stability tests of the clock h…
We demonstrate a simple and compact approach to laser cool and trap atoms based on laser-induced thermal ablation (LITA) of a pure solid granule. A rapid thermalisation of the granule leads to a fast recovery of the ultra-high vacuum condition required for a long trapping lifetime of the cold gas. We give a proof-of-concept of the technique, performing a magneto-optical trap on the 461 nm $^1S_0\rightarrow^1P_1$ transition of strontium. We get up to 3.5 million of cold strontium-88 atoms with a trapping lifetime of more than 4 s. The lifetime is limited by the pressure of the strontium-free re…
We report on the atom loss spectroscopy of strontium Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap, using a two-photon excitation scheme through the intermediate state $5\mathrm{s}5\mathrm{p} \, ^3\mathrm{P}_1$. Energies of the $5\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{s} \, ^3\mathrm{S}_1$ and $5\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{d} \, ^3\mathrm{D}_{1,2}$ Rydberg series of $^{88}$Sr in the range $13 \leq n \leq 50$ are determined with an absolute accuracy of 10 MHz, including the perturbed region where the $5\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{d} \, ^3\mathrm{D}_{2}$ series couples to the $5\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{d} \, ^1\mathrm{D}_{2}$ series. This repre…
We investigate the production of long lived metastable (3P2, n=4) calcium atoms in a magneto-optical trap operating on the 1S0 to 1P1 transition at 423 nm. For excited 1P1-atoms a weak decay channel into the triplet states 3P2 and 3P1 exists via the singlet 1D2 (n=3) state. The undesired 3P1-atoms decay back to the ground state within 0.4 ms and can be fully recaptured if the illuminated trap volume is sufficiently large. We obtain a flux of above 10^10 atoms/s into the 3P2-state. We find that our MOT life time of 23 ms is mainly limited by this loss channel and thus the 3P2-production is not …
We measure the spectrum of tellurium-130 in the vicinity of the 461~nm ${}^1\text{S}_0-{}^{1}\text{P}_1$ cycling transition in neutral strontium, a popular element for atomic clocks, quantum information, and quantum-degenerate gases. The lack of hyperfine structure in tellurium results in a spectral density of transitions nearly 50 times lower than that available in iodine, making use of tellurium as a laser-frequency reference challenging. By frequency-offset locking two lasers, we generate the large frequency shifts required to span the difference between a tellurium line and the ${}^1\text{…
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. Further…
Radiative decay from the excited $^1P_1$ state to metastable $^3P_2$ and $^3P_0$ states is expected to limit attainable trapped atomic population in a magneto-optic trap of ytterbium (Yb) atoms. In experiments we have carried out with optical repumping of $^3P_{0,2}$ states to $^3P_1$, we observe enhancement of trapped atoms yield in the excited $^1P_1$ state. The individual decay rate to each metastable state is measured and the results show an excellent agreement with the theoretical values.
Transversely loaded bidimensional-magneto-optical-traps (2D-MOT) have been recently developed as high flux sources for cold strontium atoms to realize a new generation of compact experimental setups. Here, we discuss on the implementation of a cross-polarized bi-color slower for a strontium atomic beam improving the 2D-MOT loading, and increasing the number of atoms in a final MOT by eleven times. Our slowing scheme addresses simultaneously two excited Zeeman substates of the 88Sr 1S0->1P1 transition at 461 nm. We also realized a 3-axis active feedback control of the magnetic field down to the…
We demonstrate a scheme for magneto-optically trapping strontium monofluoride (SrF) molecules at temperatures one order of magnitude lower and phase space densities three orders of magnitude higher than obtained previously with laser-cooled molecules. In our trap, optical dark states are destabilized by rapidly and synchronously reversing the trapping laser polarizations and the applied magnetic field gradient. The number of molecules and trap lifetime are also significantly improved from previous work by loading the trap with high laser power and then reducing the power for long-term trapping…
We characterize the properties of a new form of magneto-optical trap (MOT) that relies on non-equilibrium population dynamics associated with narrow-linewidth optical transitions. We demonstrate this mechanism using the 7.5 kHz linewidth transition in both bosonic and fermionic strontium isotopes. In contrast to standard narrow-line MOTs based on imbalances in equilibrium scattering rates, our system benefits from a less complex laser system, a larger capture fraction from higher temperature samples, robustness against experimental perturbations and the ability to operate in the presence of la…
Ultra-precise optical clocks in space will allow new studies in fundamental physics and astronomy. Within an European Space Agency (ESA) program, the Space Optical Clocks (SOC) project aims to install and to operate an optical lattice clock on the International Space Station (ISS) towards the end of this decade. It would be a natural follow-on to the ACES mission, improving its performance by at least one order of magnitude. The payload is planned to include an optical lattice clock, as well as a frequency comb, a microwave link, and an optical link for comparisons of the ISS clock with ground…
We describe an atom trapping mechanism based upon differential optical pumping between metastable hyperfine states by partially-displaced laser beams in the absence of a magnetic field. With realistic laser powers, trap spring constants should match or exceed those typical of magneto-optical traps, and highly flexible tailored trap shapes should be achievable. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we have combined a 1D implementation with magneto-optical trapping in the orthogonal directions, capturing ~10000 85Rb atoms. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in…
We present a quantitative model for magneto-optical traps operating on narrow transitions, where the transition linewidth and the recoil shift are comparable. We combine a quantum treatment of the light scattering process with a Monte-Carlo simulation of the atomic motion. By comparing our model to an experiment operating on the $5\rm{s}^2~^1\rm{S}_0 \rightarrow 5\rm{s}5\rm{p}~^3\rm{P}_1$ transition in strontium, we show that it quantitatively reproduces the cloud size, position, temperature and dynamics over a wide range of operating conditions, without any adjustable parameters. We also pres…
We report on the realization of an ultracold (<25~muK) mixture of rubidium ({87}Rb) and metastable triplet helium ({4}He) in an optical dipole trap. Our scheme involves laser cooling in a dual-species magneto-optical trap, simultaneous MW- and RF-induced forced evaporative cooling in a quadrupole magnetic trap, and transfer to a single-beam optical dipole trap. We observe long trapping lifetimes for the doubly spin-stretched spin-state mixture and measure much shorter lifetimes for other spin-state combinations. We discuss prospects for realizing quantum degenerate mixtures of alkali-metal and…
We present experimental results on the two-body loss rates in a magneto-optical trap of metastable helium atoms. Absolute rates are measured in a systematic way for several laser detunings ranging from -5 to -30 MHz and at different intensities, by monitoring the decay of the trap fluorescence. The dependence of the two-body loss rate coefficient $β$ on the excited state ($2^3P_2$) and metastable state ($2^3S_1$) populations is also investigated. From these results we infer a rather uniform rate constant $K_{sp}=(1{\pm}0.4)\times10^{-7}$ cm$^3$/s.
We present experimental results from a new scheme for magneto-optically trapping strontium monofluoride (SrF) molecules, which provides increased confinement compared to our original work. The improved trap employs a new approach to magneto-optical trapping presented by M. Tarbutt, \emph{arXiv preprint} 1409.0244, which provided insight for the first time into the source of the restoring force in magneto-optical traps (MOTs) where the cycling transition includes dark Zeeman sublevels (known as type-II MOTs). We measure a radial spring constant $20\times$ greater than in our original work with …
