Trapping radioactive ^{82}Rb in an optical dipole trap and evidence of spontaneous spin polarization

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the successful optical trapping of radioactive ^{82}Rb atoms, achieving a significant trap lifetime and evidence of spontaneous spin polarization, paving the way for advanced precision measurements in fundamental physics.

Contribution

It reports the first trapping of radioactive ^{82}Rb atoms in an optical dipole trap along with evidence of spontaneous spin polarization, a novel step for fundamental physics experiments.

Findings

Trapped 10^4 ^{82}Rb atoms with a ~55 s lifetime.

Achieved ~14% transfer efficiency from magneto-optical trap.

Observed spontaneous spin polarization in the trapped atoms.

Abstract

Optical trapping of selected species of radioactive atoms has great potential in precision measurements for testing fundamental physics such as EDM, PNC and parity violating beta-decay asymmetry correlation coefficients. We report trapping of 10^4 radioactive ^{82}Rb atoms (t_{1/2}=75 s) with a trap lifetime of ~55 seconds in an optical dipole trap. Transfer efficiency from the magneto-optical trap was ~14%. We further report the evidence of spontaneous spin polarization of the atoms in optical dipole trap loading. This advancement is an important step towards a new generation of precision J-beta correlations measurements with polarized ^{82}Rb atoms.