Optical excitation and decay dynamics of ytterbium atoms embedded in a solid neon matrix.

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Phys. Rev. Lett.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.093001· OSTI ID:1025110

Xu, C -Y; Hu, S -M; Singh, J; Bailey, K; Lu, Z -T; Mueller, P; O'Connor, T P; Welp, U ^[1]

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1. Materials Science Division

Neutral ytterbium atoms embedded in solid neon qualitatively retain the structure of free atoms. Despite the atom-solid interaction, the 6s6p {sup 3}P{sub 0} level is found to remain metastable with its lifetimes determined to be in the range of ten to hundreds of seconds. The atomic population can be almost completely transferred between the ground level and the metastable level via optical excitation and spontaneous decay. The dynamics of this process is examined and is used to explicitly demonstrate that the transition broadening mechanism is homogeneous.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); NKBRSF
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1025110
• Report Number(s): ANL/PHY/JA-70061; TRN: US201120%%300
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 107, Issue 9 ; Sep. 2011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ATOMS
DECAY
EXCITATION
GROUND LEVEL
NEON
YTTERBIUM