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arXiv · 2112.08833

Two-color grating magneto-optical trap for narrow-line laser cooling

Saskia Bondza·Christian Lisdat·Stefanie Kroker·Tobias Leopold
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Abstract

We demonstrate for the first time the two-color cooling and trapping of alkaline-earth atoms in a grating magneto-optical trap (gMOT). The trap is formed by a single incident laser beam together with four secondary beams that are generated via diffraction from a nanostructured wafer. A grating structure for a gMOT operating with strontium atoms is optimized and fabricated. We trap $10^6$ $^{88}$Sr atoms on the $^1$S$_0$ $\rightarrow$ $^1$P$_1$ transition at $461\;\mathrm{nm}$ and transfer $25\;\%$ of these atoms to the second cooling stage on the narrower $^1$S$_0$ $\rightarrow$ $^3$P$_1$ intercombination transition at $689\;\mathrm{nm}$, preparing a sample of $2.5\times 10^5$ atoms at $5\;\mu$K. These results demonstrate for the first time the applicability of the gMOT technology in conjunction with two widely differing wavelengths and enable the continued miniaturization of alkaline-earth based quantum technologies like optical atomic clocks.

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Saskia Bondza, Christian Lisdat, Stefanie Kroker, Tobias Leopold. 2021-12-16. Two-color grating magneto-optical trap for narrow-line laser cooling. https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.08833

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