Measurement of the Spin-forbidden Decay rate (3s3d)$^{1}$D$_{2}$ $\to$ (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{2,1}$ in $^{24}$Mg

TL;DR

This study measures the spin-forbidden decay rate in magnesium atoms, providing experimental data that aligns with theoretical calculations, and highlights its significance for quantum optics and cooling experiments.

Contribution

The paper presents the first experimental measurement of the spin-forbidden decay rate in $^{24}$Mg, confirming theoretical predictions and emphasizing its impact on quantum optics applications.

Findings

Decay rate measured as (196 ± 10) s$^{-1}$

Excellent agreement with relativistic many-body calculations

Implications for quantum optics and cooling experiments

Abstract

We have measured the spin-forbidden decay rate from (3s3d)$^{1}$D$_{2}$ $\to$ (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{2,1}$ in $^{24}$Mg atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap. The total decay rate, summing up both exit channels (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{1}$ and (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{2}$, yields (196 $\pm$ 10) s$^{-1}$ in excellent agreement with resent relativistic many-body calculations of [S.G. Porsev et al., Phys. Rev. A. \textbf{64}, 012508 (2001)]. The characterization of this decay channel is important as it may limit the performance of quantum optics experiments carried out with this ladder system as well as two-photon cooling experiments currently explored in several groups.