Search results for " atomic physics"
showing 10 items of 344 documents
Imaging magnetic scalar potentials by laser-induced fluorescence from bright and dark atoms
2014
We present a spectroscopic method for mapping two-dimensional distributions of magnetic field strengths (magnetic scalar potential lines) using charge-coupled device (CCD) recordings of the fluorescence patterns emitted by spin-polarized Cs vapour in a buffer gas exposed to inhomogeneous magnetic fields. The method relies on the position-selective destruction of spin polarization by magnetic resonances induced by multi-component oscillating magnetic fields, such that magnetic potential lines can be directly detected by the CCD camera. We also present a generic algebraic model allowing for the calculation of the fluorescence patterns and find excellent agreement with the experimental observa…
FitAik: a package to calculate least-square fitted atomic transitions probabilities. Application to the Er+ lanthanide ion
2022
We present a new method implemented in our new package \textit{FitAik}, to perform least-squares fitting of calculated and experimental atomic transition probabilities, by using the mono-electronic transition integrals $\langle n\ell |r| n'\ell' \rangle$ (with $r$ the electronic radial coordinate) as adjustable quantities. \textit{FitAik} is interfaced to the Cowan suite of codes, for which it automatically writes input files and reads output files. We illustrate our procedure with the example of Er$^{+}$ ion, for which the agreement between calculated and experimental Einstein coefficients is found to be very good. The source code of \emph{FitAik} can be found on GitLab, and the calculated…
Penning traps as a versatile tool for precise experiments in fundamental physics
2009
This review article describes the trapping of charged particles. The main principles of electromagnetic confinement of various species from elementary particles to heavy atoms are briefly described. The preparation and manipulation with trapped single particles, as well as methods of frequency measurements, providing unprecedented precision, are discussed. Unique applications of Penning traps in fundamental physics are presented. Ultra-precise trap-measurements of masses and magnetic moments of elementary particles (electrons, positrons, protons and antiprotons) confirm CPT-conservation, and allow accurate determination of the fine-structure constant alpha and other fundamental constants. T…
Exploiting transport properties for the detection of optical pumping in heavy ions
2020
We present a kinetic model for optical pumping in Lu$^+$ and Lr$^+$ ions as well as a theoretical approach to calculate the transport properties of Lu$^+$ in its ground $^1S_0$ and metastable $^3D_1$ states in helium background gas. Calculations of the initial ion state populations, the field and temperature dependence of the mobilities and diffusion coefficients, and the ion arrival time distributions demonstrate that the ground- and metastable-state ions can be collected and discriminated efficiently under realistic macroscopic conditions.
Experimental evidence on photo-assisted O$^-$ ion production from Al$_2$O$_3$ cathode in cesium sputter negative ion source
2020
The production of negative ions in cesium sputter ion sources is generally considered to be a pure surface process. It has been recently proposed that ion pair production could explain the higher-than-expected beam currents extracted from these ion sources, therefore opening the door for laser-assisted enhancement of the negative ion yield. We have tested this hypothesis by measuring the effect of various pulsed diode lasers on the O$^-$ beam current produced from Al$_2$O$_3$ cathode of a cesium sputter ion source. It is expected that the ion pair production of O$^-$ requires populating the 5d electronic states of neutral cesium, thus implying that the process should be provoked only with s…
Searching for Axion Dark Matter in Atoms: ~Oscillating Electric Dipole Moments and Spin-Precession Effects
2015
Roberts, Benjamin M. "Searching for Axion Dark Matter in Atoms: ~Oscillating Electric Dipole Moments and Spin-Precession Effects" in Proceedings, 11th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs (Axion-WIMP 2015) / Irastorza, Igor G., Redondo, Javier, Carmona, José Manuel, Cebrian, Susana, Dafni, Theopisti, Iguaz, Francisco J., Luzon, Gloria (eds.), Verlag Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron : 2015 ; AXION-WIMP 2015 : 11th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, 2015-06-22 - 2015-06-26, Zaragoza 11th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, AXION-WIMP 2015, Zaragoza, Spain, 22 Jun 2015 - 26 Jun 2015 ; DESY-PROC 120-123(2015). doi:10.3204/DESY-PROC-2015-02/roberts_benjamin_axions
A Three Dimensional Lattice of Ion Traps
2009
We propose an ion trap configuration such that individual traps can be stacked together in a three dimensional simple cubic arrangement. The isolated trap as well as the extended array of ion traps are characterized for different locations in the lattice, illustrating the robustness of the lattice of traps concept. Ease in the addressing of ions at each lattice site, individually or simultaneously, makes this system naturally suitable for a number of experiments. Application of this trap to precision spectroscopy, quantum information processing and the study of few particle interacting system are discussed.
Limiting P-odd interactions of cosmic fields with electrons, protons and neutrons
2014
We propose methods for extracting limits on the strength of P-odd interactions of pseudoscalar and pseudovector cosmic fields with electrons, protons and neutrons. Candidates for such fields are dark matter (including axions) and dark energy, as well as several more exotic sources described by standard-model extensions. Calculations of parity nonconserving amplitudes and atomic electric dipole moments induced by these fields are performed for H, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ba+, Tl, Dy, Fr, and Ra+. From these calculations and existing measurements in Dy, Cs and Tl, we constrain the interaction strengths of the parity-violating static pseudovector cosmic field to be 7*10^(-15) GeV with an electron, a…
Atomic Ionization by Scalar Dark Matter and Solar Scalars
2021
We calculate the cross-sections of atomic ionization by absorption of scalar particles in the energy range from a few eV to 100 keV. We consider both nonrelativistic particles (dark matter candidates) and relativistic particles which may be produced inside Sun. We provide numerical results for atoms relevant for direct dark matter searches (O, Na, Ar, Ca, Ge, I, Xe, W and Tl). We identify a crucial flaw in previous calculations and show that they overestimated the ionization cross sections by several orders of magnitude due to violation of the orthogonality of the bound and continuum electron wave functions. Using our computed cross-sections, we interpret the recent data from the Xenon1T ex…
Fabrication of a planar micro Penning trap and numerical investigations of versatile ion positioning protocols
2009
We describe a versatile planar Penning trap structure, which allows one to dynamically modify the trapping configuration almost arbitrarily. The trap consists of 37 hexagonal electrodes, each with a circumcircle diameter of 300 μm, fabricated in a gold-on-sapphire lithographic technique. Every hexagon can be addressed individually, thus shaping the electric potential. The fabrication of such a device with clean room methods is demonstrated. We illustrate the variability of the device by a detailed numerical simulation of a lateral and a vertical transport and simulate trapping in racetrack and artificial crystal configurations. The trap may be used for ions or electrons, as a versatile cont…