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Quenched narrow-line second- and third-stage laser cooling of 40Ca

E. Anne Curtis·Christopher W. Oates·Leo Hollberg
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Abstract

We demonstrate three-dimensional (3-D) quenched narrow-line laser cooling and trapping of 40Ca. With 5 ms of cooling time we can transfer 28 % of the atoms from a magneto-optic trap based on the strong 423 nm cooling line to a trap based on the narrow 657 nm clock transition (that is quenched by an intercombination line at 552 nm), thereby reducing the atoms' temperature from 2 millikelvin to 10 microkelvin. This reduction in temperature should help reduce the overall systematic frequency uncertainty for our Ca optical frequency standard to < 1 Hz. Additional pulsed, quenched narrow-line third-stage cooling in 1-D yields sub-recoil temperatures as low as 300 nK, and makes possible the observation of high-contrast two-pulse Ramsey spectroscopic lineshapes.

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E. Anne Curtis, Christopher W. Oates, Leo Hollberg. 2002-08-20. Quenched narrow-line second- and third-stage laser cooling of 40Ca. https://doi.org/10.1364/josab.20.000977

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