Laser cooling of thulium atoms

Sukachev, Denis D.; Chebakov, K.; Соколов, А. В.; Акимов, А. В.; Kolachevsky, Nikolai N.; Сорокин, В. Н.

doi:10.1134/s0030400x11110282

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Later on, lanthanides started to draw much attention: Ultracold erbium atoms were produced in a magneto-optical trap [15,16]. More recently Bose-Einstein condensation was reached with erbium [17,18] and dysprosium [19][20][21][22][23] and noncondensed ultracold gases of thulium [24,25] and holmium [26] were also produced. These achievements stimulated both theoretical [27][28][29][30][31] and experimental studies [32][33][34], which complemented the work * maxence.lepers@u-psud.fr on ytterbium, the heavier (closed-shell) lanthanide element (see, for example, [35] and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anisotropic optical trapping of ultracold erbium atoms

Lepers¹,

Wyart²,

Dulieu³

2014

Phys. Rev. A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ultracold atoms confined in a dipole trap are submitted to a potential whose depth is proportional to the real part of their dynamic dipole polarizability. The atoms also experience photon scattering whose rate is proportional to the imaginary part of their dynamic dipole polarizability. In this article we calculate the complex dynamic dipole polarizability of ground-state erbium, a rare-earth atom that was recently Bose-condensed. The polarizability is calculated with the sum-over-state formula inherent to second-order perturbation theory. The summation is performed on transition energies and transition dipole moments from ground-state erbium, which are computed using the Racah-Slater least-square fitting procedure provided by the Cowan codes. This allows us to predict 9 unobserved odd-parity energy levels of total angular momentum J=5, 6 and 7, in the range 25000-31000 cm-1 above the ground state. Regarding the trapping potential, we find that ground-state erbium essentially behaves like a spherically-symmetric atom, in spite of its large electronic angular momentum. We also find a mostly isotropic van der Waals interaction between two ground-state erbium atoms, characterized by a coefficient C_6^{iso}=1760 a.u.. On the contrary, the photon-scattering rate shows a pronounced anisotropy, since it strongly depends on the polarization of the trapping light.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anisotropic optical trapping of ultracold erbium atoms

Lepers¹,

Wyart²,

Dulieu³

2014

Phys. Rev. A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This key property makes lanthanides prime candidates for the study of atomic dipolar physics [14][15][16]. Dy [17,18] and Er [19], with µ = 10 µ B and 7 µ B , respectively, have been recently brought to quantum degeneracy while others are under investigation [20][21][22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyperfine structure of laser-cooling transitions in fermionic erbium-167

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have measured and analyzed the hyperfine structure of two lines, one at 583nm and one at 401nm, of the only stable fermionic isotope of atomic erbium as well as determined its isotope shift relative to the four most-abundant bosonic isotopes. Our work focuses on the J->J+1 laser cooling transitions from the [Xe] 4f12 6s2 (3H6) ground state to two levels of the excited [Xe] 4f12 6s6p configuration, which are of major interest for experiments on quantum degenerate dipolar Fermi gases. From a fit to the observed spectra of the strong optical transition at 401nm we find that the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine constants for the excited state are Ae/h=-100.1(3)MHz and Be/h=-3079(30)MHz, respectively. The hyperfine spectrum of the narrow transition at 583nm, was previously observed and accurate Ae and Be coefficients are available. A simulated spectrum based on these coefficients agrees well with our measurements. We have also determined the hyperfine constants using relativistic configuration-interaction ab initio calculations. The agreement between the ab initio and fitted data for the ground state is better than 0.1%, while for the two excited states the agreement is 1% and 11% for the Ae and Be constants, respectively

show abstract

“…Compared to other experiments on magnetic lanthanides, such as Dy [11], our much simpler approach based on a single cooling light for the MOT provides higher atom numbers and similar final temperatures. We suggest that this scheme can be successfully implemented with Dy, Ho and Tm, using the 626-nm (Γ/2π = 135 kHz) [30], the 598-nm (Γ/2π = 146 kHz) [31], and the 531-nm (Γ/2π = 370 kHz) [32] transitions, respectively.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrow-line magneto-optical trap for erbium

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report on the experimental realization of a robust and efficient magneto-optical trap for erbium atoms, based on a narrow cooling transition at 583 nm. We observe up to N = 2 × 10 8 atoms at a temperature of about T = 15 µK. This simple scheme provides better starting conditions for direct loading of dipole traps as compared to approaches based on the strong cooling transition alone, or on a combination of a strong and a narrow kHz transition. Our results on Er point to a general, simple and efficient approach to laser cool samples of other lanthanide atoms (Ho, Dy, and Tm) for the production of quantum-degenerate samples.PACS numbers: 37.10. De, 37.10.Vz Laser cooling of non-alkali atoms has become a very active and challenging field of research. The great appeal of unconventional atomic systems for experiments on ultracold atomic quantum gases stems from the possibility of engineering complex interactions and of accessing rich atomic energy spectra. Both features are at the foundation of a number of novel fascinating phenomena. For instance the energy spectra of two-valence-electron species, as alkaline earth and alkalineearth-like atoms, feature narrow and ultra-narrow optical transitions, which are key ingredients for ultra-precise atomic clocks [1], efficient quantum computation schemes [2], and novel laser cooling approaches as beautifully demonstrated in experiments with Sr, Yb,.As a next step in complexity, multi-valence-electron atoms with non-S electronic ground state such as lanthanides are currently attracting an increasing experimental and theoretical interest. Among many, one of the special features of lanthanides is the exceptionally large magnetic dipole moment of atoms in the electronic ground state (e. g. 7 µ B for Er and 10 µ B for both Dy and Tb), which provides a unique chance to study strongly dipolar phenomena with atoms. Highly magnetic atoms interact with each other not only via the usual contact interaction but also via an anisotropic and long-range interaction, known as the dipole-dipole interaction [6]. Chromium was the first atomic species used for experiments on atomic dipolar quantum gases [7,8], and the even more magnetic lanthanides are nowadays in the limelight thanks to laser cooling experiments on Er and Tm [9,10] and to the recent realization of quantumdegenerate Dy gases [11,12].Similarly to Yb and the alkaline earth atoms, the atomic energy spectra of magnetic lanthanides include broad, narrow, and ultra-narrow optical transitions. This collection of lines is reflected in a wide choice of possible schemes for laser cooling experiments. However, all experiments on Zeeman slowing and cooling in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) with magnetic lanthanides so far relied on an approach, essentially based on the strongest cycling transition [9,10,13]. This broad transition typically lies in the blue between 400 and 430 nm and has a linewidth on the order of few tens of MHz. As a consequence, the Doppler temperature is close to a mK. Such a high temperature makes direct loading f...

show abstract

Laser cooling of thulium atoms

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Anisotropic optical trapping of ultracold erbium atoms

Anisotropic optical trapping of ultracold erbium atoms

Hyperfine structure of laser-cooling transitions in fermionic erbium-167

Narrow-line magneto-optical trap for erbium

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About