Magneto-optical trapping of bosonic and fermionic neon isotopes and their mixtures: isotope shift of the ^3P_2 to ^3D_3 transition and hyperfine constants of the ^3D_3 state of Ne-21

We have magneto-optically trapped all three stable neon isotopes, including the rare Ne-21, and all two-isotope combinations. The atoms are prepared in the metastable ^3P_2 state and manipulated via laser interaction on the ^3P_2 to ^3D_3} transition at 640.2nm. These cold (T = 1mK) and environmentally decoupled atom samples present ideal objects for precision measurements and the investigation of interactions between cold and ultracold metastable atoms. In this work, we present accurate measurements of the isotope shift of the ^3P_2 to ^3D_3 transition and the hyperfine interaction constants of the ^3D_3 state of Ne-21. The determined isotope shifts are (1625.9\pm0.15)MHz for Ne-20 to Ne-22, (855.7\pm1.0)MHz for Ne-20 to Ne-21, and (770.3\pm1.0)MHz for Ne-21 to Ne-22. The obtained magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine interaction constants are A(^3D_3)= (-142.4\pm0.2)MHz and B(^3D_3)=(-107.7\pm1.1)MHz, respectively. All measurements give a reduction of uncertainty by about one order of magnitude over previous measurements

Trapping fermionic and bosonic helium atoms

This thesis presents experimental and theoretical work performed at the Laser Centre of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to study laser-cooled metastable triplet helium atoms. Samples containing about 3x10^8 helium atoms-either fermionic helium-3 atoms, bosonic helium-4 atoms or mixtures thereof-are cooled to a temperature around 1 mK and form the starting point of the presented studies. The studies include an investigation of cold ionizing collisions in the absence of resonant light, an investigation of magneto-optical trapping with ultraviolet light, a feasibility study of an atomic fountain clock based on metastable helium-3 atoms and the first demonstration of magneto-optical trapping of an isotopic mixture of metastable helium atoms.Hogervorst, W. [Promotor]Vassen, W. [Copromotor

Simultaneous magneto-optical trapping of a boson-fermion mixture of metastable helium atoms

The fermionic metastabl

Homonuclear ionizing collisions of laser-cooled metastable helium atoms

We present a theoretical and experimental investigation of homonuclear ionizing collisions of laser-cooled metastable helium atoms, considering both the fermionic He-3 and bosonic He-4 isotope. The theoretical description combines quantum threshold behavior, Wigner's spin-conservation rule and quantum statistical symmetry requirements in a single-channel model, complementing a more complete close-coupling theory that has been reported for collisions of metastable He-4 atoms. The model is supported with measurements (in the absence of light fields) of ionization rates in magneto-optically trapped samples, that contain about 3*10^8 atoms of a single isotope. The ionization rates are determined from measurements of trap loss due to light-assisted collisions combined with comparative measurements of the ion production rate in the absence and presence of trapping light. Theory and experiment show good agreement.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.