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Title: Laser trapping of short-lived radioactive isotopes

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters; (United States)
; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Department of Physics and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
  2. Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)

We describe an experiment which demonstrates the feasibility of trapping significant quantities of short-lived radioactive atoms with laser light. A thermal beam of 22.5 sec half-life [sup 21]Na atoms was produced on-line at the LBL 88[prime][prime] Cyclotron. After decelerating the beam using a Zeeman-tuned slowing technique we stored about 4[times]10[sup 3] [sup 21]Na atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The number of trapped atoms is large enough to be used in experimental studies of the beta decay of [sup 21]Na. The basic method can be adapted for other rare isotopes.

DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098; W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
7041853
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 72:24; ISSN 0031-9007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English