Ion current as a precise measure of the loading rate of a magneto-optical trap

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Optics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.39.000409· OSTI ID:1394038

Jiang, W.; Bailey, K.; Lu, Z. -T.; Mueller, P.; O’Connor, T. P.; Purtschert, R.

We have demonstrated that the ion current resulting from collisions between metastable krypton atoms in a magneto-optical trap can be used to precisely measure the trap loading rate. We measured both the ion current of the abundant isotope Kr-83 (isotopic abundance = 11%) and the single-atom counting rate of the rare isotope Kr-85 (isotopic abundance similar to 1 x 10(-11)), and found the two quantities to be proportional at a precision level of 0.9%. This work results in a significant improvement in using the magneto-optical trap as an analytical tool for noble-gas isotope ratio measurements, and will benefit both atomic physics studies and applications in the earth sciences. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science - Office of Nuclear Physics
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1394038
• Journal Information: Optics Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 2; ISSN 0146-9592
• Publisher: Optical Society of America (OSA)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS