V. S. Bushmakin | Searcharxiv

arXiv2018

Polarized cold cloud of thulium atom

Minimization of internal degrees of freedom is an important step in the cooling of atomic species to degeneracy temperature. Here, we report on the loading of 6*10^5 thulium atoms optically polarized at maximum possible magnetic quantum number mf=-4 state into dipole trap operating at 532 nm. The purity of polarizations of the atoms was experimentally verified using a Stern-Gerlach-type experiment. Experimental measured polarization of the state is 3.91(26).

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Light assisted collisions in ultra-cold Tm atoms

We studied light assisted collisions of Tm atoms in a magneto optical trap (MOT) for the first time, working on a weak cooling transition at 530.7 nm $(4f^{13}(^2F^0)6s^2,J=7/2,F=4$ to $4f^{12}(^3H_6)5d_{5/2}6s^2,J=9/2,F=5)$. We observed a strong influence from radiation trapping and light assisted collisions on the dynamics of this trap. We carefully separated these two contributions and measured the binary loss rate constant at different laser powers and detuning frequencies near the cooling transition. Analyzing losses from the MOT, we found the light assisted inelastic binary loss rate constant to reach values of up to $β=10^{-9}$ cm$^3$/s and gave the upper bound on a branching ratio $k<0.8\times 10^{-6}$ for the 530.7 nm transition.

physics.atom-ph↗