Abstract
We have demonstrated that the ion current resulting from collisions between metastable krypton atoms in a magneto-optical trap can be used to precisely measure the trap loading rate. We measured both the ion current of the abundant isotope () and the single-atom counting rate of the rare isotope (), and found the two quantities to be proportional at a precision level of 0.9%. This work results in a significant improvement in using the magneto-optical trap as an analytical tool for noble-gas isotope ratio measurements, and will benefit both atomic physics studies and applications in the earth sciences.
© 2014 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
C. F. Cheng, G. M. Yang, W. Jiang, Y. R. Sun, L. Y. Tu, and S. M. Hu
Opt. Lett. 38(1) 31-33 (2013)
Magnus Haw, Nathan Evetts, Will Gunton, Janelle Van Dongen, James L. Booth, and Kirk W. Madison
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 29(3) 475-483 (2012)
W. Süptitz, G. Wokurka, F. Strauch, P. Kohns, and W. Ertmer
Opt. Lett. 19(19) 1571-1573 (1994)