No Arabic abstract
We experimentally and theoretically determine the magic wavelength of the (5$s^2$)$^{1}S_{0}$$-$(5$s$5$p$)$^{3}P_{0}$ clock transition of $^{111}$Cd to be 419.88(14) nm and 420.1(7) nm. To perform Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of the clock transition, we use narrow-line laser cooling on the $^{1}S_{0}$$-$$^{3}P_{1}$ transition to cool the atoms to 6 $mu$K and load them into an optical lattice. Cadmium is an attractive candidate for optical lattice clocks because it has a small sensitivity to blackbody radiation and its efficient narrow-line cooling mitigates higher order light shifts. We calculate the blackbody shift, including the dynamic correction, to be fractionally 2.83(8)$times$10$^{-16}$ at 300 K, an order of magnitude smaller than that of Sr and Yb. We also report calculations of the Cd $^1P_1$ lifetime and the ground state $C_6$ coefficient.
Laser cooling on weak transitions is a useful technique for reaching ultracold temperatures in atoms with multiple valence electrons. However, for strongly magnetic atoms a conventional narrow-line magneto-optical trap (MOT) is destabilized by competition between optical and magnetic forces. We overcome this difficulty in Er by developing an unusual narrow-line MOT that balances optical and magnetic forces using laser light tuned to the blue side of a narrow (8 kHz) transition. The trap population is spin-polarized with temperatures reaching below 2 microkelvin. Our results constitute an alternative method for laser cooling on weak transitions, applicable to rare-earth-metal and metastable alkaline earth elements.
We demonstrate three-dimensional (3-D) quenched narrow-line laser cooling and trapping of 40Ca. With 5 ms of cooling time we can transfer 28 % of the atoms from a magneto-optic trap based on the strong 423 nm cooling line to a trap based on the narrow 657 nm clock transition (that is quenched by an intercombination line at 552 nm), thereby reducing the atoms temperature from 2 millikelvin to 10 microkelvin. This reduction in temperature should help reduce the overall systematic frequency uncertainty for our Ca optical frequency standard to < 1 Hz. Additional pulsed, quenched narrow-line third-stage cooling in 1-D yields sub-recoil temperatures as low as 300 nK, and makes possible the observation of high-contrast two-pulse Ramsey spectroscopic lineshapes.
We propose and experimentally investigate a scheme for narrow-line cooling of KRb molecules in the rovibrational ground state. We show that the spin-forbidden $mathrm{X^1Sigma^+} rightarrow mathrm{b^3Pi_{0^+}}$ transition of KRb is ideal for realizing narrow-line laser cooling of molecules because it has highly diagonal Franck-Condon factors and narrow linewidth. In order to confirm the prediction, we performed the optical and microwave spectroscopy of ultracold $^{41}$K$^{87}$Rb molecules, and determined the linewidth ($2pitimes$ 4.9(4) kHz) and Franck-Condon factors for the $mathrm{X^1Sigma^+} (v=0) rightarrow mathrm{b^3Pi_{0^+}} (v=0)$ transition (0.9474(1)). This result opens the door towards all-optical production of polar molecules at sub-microkelvin temperatures.
We report an experimental study of peak and phase-space density of a two-stage magneto-optical trap (MOT) of 6-Li atoms, which exploits the narrower $2S_{1/2}rightarrow 3P_{3/2}$ ultra-violet (UV) transition at 323 nm following trapping and cooling on the more common D2 transition at 671 nm. The UV MOT is loaded from a red MOT and is compressed to give a high phase-space density up to $3times 10^{-4}$. Temperatures as low as 33 $mu$K are achieved on the UV transition. We study the density limiting factors and in particular find a value for the light-assisted collisional loss coefficient of $1.3 pm0.4times10^{-10},textrm{cm}^3/textrm{s}$ for low repumping intensity.
Optical clocks benefit from tight atomic confinement enabling extended interrogation times as well as Doppler- and recoil-free operation. However, these benefits come at the cost of frequency shifts that, if not properly controlled, may degrade clock accuracy. Numerous theoretical studies have predicted optical lattice clock frequency shifts that scale nonlinearly with trap depth. To experimentally observe and constrain these shifts in an $^{171}$Yb optical lattice clock, we construct a lattice enhancement cavity that exaggerates the light shifts. We observe an atomic temperature that is proportional to the optical trap depth, fundamentally altering the scaling of trap-induced light shifts and simplifying their parametrization. We identify an operational magic wavelength where frequency shifts are insensitive to changes in trap depth. These measurements and scaling analysis constitute an essential systematic characterization for clock operation at the $10^{-18}$ level and beyond.