0000000000383290
AUTHOR
W. Alt
Spatial separation of atomic states in a laser-cooled ion crystal
A laser cooled ion crystal containing several hundred Ca+ ions has been stored in a linear Paul trap. Cooling is provided by a red detund laser at the 4S1/2−4P1/2 resonance transition. A second laser serves for repumping of those ions which decay from the excited 4P1/2 level to the metastable 3D3/2 state. The ions can be additionally excited by a third laser to a long lived metastable 3D5/2 energy level which decouples them from the cooling laser radiation. The light pressure acting upon the laser cooled ions pushes them into the direction of the laser beam. The ions in the metastable 3D5/2 state, however, do not experience any light pressure force and diffuse to the crystal side which poin…
Shifts of the 3D - 4P transitions in different isotopes of positive calcium ions
A sample of stable isotopes containing the masses 40, 42, 43 and 44 was stored under buffer-gas conditions in a Paul ion trap. After population of the metastable 3D levels by spontaneous decay of the laser-excited 4P state we observed laser-induced fluorescence when we scanned a laser across the different 3D - 4P fine-structure lines at 850, 854 and 866 nm. From the Doppler-limited lines of these transitions we deduced the isotope shifts, which are of the order of several GHz due to the large specific mass shift of the metastable 3D levels.
Spatial separation of atomic states in a laser cooled ion crystal
A laser cooled ion crystal containing several hundred Ca+ ions has been stored in a linear Paul trap. Cooling is provided by a red detund laser at the 4S1/2−4P1/2 resonance transition. A second laser serves for repumping of those ions which decay from the excited 4P1/2 level to the metastable 3D3/2 state. The ions can be additionally excited by a third laser to a long lived metastable 3D5/2 energy level which decouples them from the cooling laser radiation. The light pressure acting upon the laser cooled ions pushes them into the direction of the laser beam. The ions in the metastable 3D5/2 state, however, do not experience any light pressure force and diffuse to the crystal side which poin…