Laser cooling and trapping of Yb from a thermal source

Abstract

We have successfully loaded a magneto-optic trap for Yb atoms from a thermal source without the use of a Zeeman slower. The source is placed close to the trapping region so that it provides a large flux of atoms that can be cooled and captured. The atoms are cooled on the 1 S 0 ↔ 1 P 1 transition at 398.8 nm. We have loaded all seven stable isotopes of Yb into the trap. For the most abundant isotope ( 174 Yb), we load more than 10 7 atoms into the trap within 1 s. For the rarest isotope ( 168 Yb) with a natural abundance of only 0.13%, we still load about 4 × 10 5 atoms into the trap. We find that the trap population is maximized near a detuning of −1.5Γ and field gradient of 75 G/cm. 32.80.Pj,42.50.Vk

Production and characterization of a dual species magneto-optical trap of cesium and ytterbium

“…This is the most common approach to loading a Yb MOT, although other methods of loading have also been demonstrated. 49,50 Whilst a MOT of Cs can be produced directly from a vapor, the high background pressure is not suitable for making ultracold or quantum degenerate clouds. Therefore, Cs should be loaded from either a second collection MOT 51,52 or a Zeeman slower.…”

Doppler-free Yb spectroscopy with the fluorescence spot technique

“…Ytterbium, both atomic and singly ionized, is an element widely used in experiments involving trapped atoms and ions, such as laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms and ions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], atomic clocks [13][14][15][16], frequency standards [17][18][19][20], quantum computing experiments [21,22], quantum optics [23], and atomic parity nonconservation experiments [24]. Knowledge of the 1 S 0 ↔ 1 P 1 transition line in atomic Yb and of the corresponding frequency shifts for the stable isotopes is very important in these experiments as it allows for laser cooling and isotope selective photoionisation [20,22,[25][26][27].…”

Proposed search for an electric-dipole moment using laser-cooled 171Yb atoms

“…Both lines are accessible with existing laser technology, the first using a frequency-doubled Ti-sapphire laser, and the second using a dye laser operating with Rhodamine 110 dye. We have earlier shown that a Yb MOT can be directly loaded from a thermal source (without the use of a Zeeman slower) using the 399 nm line [16]. The source is not isotopically enriched and contains all the seven stable isotopes in their natural abundances.…”

“…We have chosen Yb because it has been successfully laser cooled in our laboratory [16] and elsewhere [17,18]. It is a heavy diamagnetic atom and effects leading to EDM are comparable to that in Hg.…”