Optical Excitation and Decay Dynamics of Ytterbium Atoms Embedded in a Solid Neon Matrix

Journal Article · Fri Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.107.093001· OSTI ID:21611589

Xu, C -Y; Lu, Z -T ^[1]; Hu, S -M ^[1]; Singh, J; Bailey, K; Mueller, P; O'Connor, T P ^[1]; Welp, U ^[2]

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1. Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
2. Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

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.

• OSTI ID: 21611589
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.093001; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
EXCITATION
GROUND LEVEL
LIFETIME
NEON
YTTERBIUM
ELEMENTS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
LEVELS
METALS
NONMETALS
RARE EARTHS
RARE GASES