Magneto-optical Trapping of Cadmium

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful laser-cooling and trapping of cadmium atoms using a magneto-optical trap, and measures the photoionization cross section from the excited state, enabling future studies of ultracold atom-ion interactions.

Contribution

It reports the first magneto-optical trapping of cadmium atoms and provides a measurement of the photoionization cross section from the excited state.

Findings

Cadmium atoms can be laser-cooled and trapped in a magneto-optical trap.

The photoionization cross section from the 1P1 state is measured to be 2(1)×10^(-16) cm^2.

The setup enables potential studies of ultracold atom-ion interactions.

Abstract

We report the laser-cooling and confinement of Cd atoms in a magneto-optical trap, and characterize the loading process from the background Cd vapor. The trapping laser drives the 1S0-1P1 transition at 229 nm in this two-electron atom and also photoionizes atoms directly from the 1P1 state. This photoionization overwhelms the other loss mechanisms and allows a direct measurement of the photoionization cross section, which we measure to be 2(1)x10^(-16)cm^(2) from the 1P1 state. When combined with nearby laser-cooled and trapped Cd^(+) ions, this apparatus could facilitate studies in ultracold interactions between atoms and ions.