Sub-doppler laser cooling of thulium atoms in a magneto-optical trap

Sub-Doppler laser cooling in a magneto-optical trap for thulium atoms at a wavelength of 410.6 nm has been experimentally studied. Without any dedicated molasses period of sub-Doppler cooling, the cloud of 3 × 10 6 atoms at a temperature of 25(5) μK was observed. The measured temperature is significantly lower than the Doppler limit of 240 μK for the cooling transition at 410.6 nm. The high efficiency of the sub-Doppler cooling process is due to a near-degeneracy of the Landé g-factors of the lower 4f 13 6s 2 (J = 7/2) and the upper 4f 12 5d 3/2 6s 2 (J = 9/2) cooling levels. © 2010 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.

Sukachev, D., Sokolov, A., Chebakov, K., Akimov, A., Kolachevsky, N., & Sorokin, V.

Sub-doppler laser cooling of thulium atoms in a magneto-optical trap Academic Article