Magic wavelengths for optical cooling and trapping of lithium

TL;DR

This paper identifies magic wavelengths for lithium transitions using high-precision relativistic calculations, enabling improved optical cooling and trapping techniques for quantum gas experiments.

Contribution

It provides the first-principles calculated magic and tune-out wavelengths for lithium, including detailed atomic polarizabilities and matrix elements, with estimated uncertainties.

Findings

Identified magic wavelengths for 2s-2p and 2s-3p lithium transitions.

Calculated tune-out wavelengths where polarizability vanishes.

Provided recommended atomic data with uncertainty estimates.

Abstract

Using first-principles calculations, we identify magic wavelengths for the 2s-2p and 2s-3p transitions in lithium. The ns and np atomic levels have the same ac Stark shifts at the corresponding magic wavelength, which facilitates state-insensitive optical cooling and trapping. Tune-out wavelengths for which the ground-state frequency-dependent polarizability vanishes are also calculated. Differences of these wavelengths between 6Li and 7Li are reported. Our approach uses high-precision, relativistic all-order methods in which all single, double, and partial triple excitations of the Dirac-Fock wave functions are included to all orders of perturbation theory. Recommended values are provided for a large number of Li electric-dipole matrix elements. Static polarizabilities for the 2s, 2p, 3s, 3p, and 3d levels are compared with other theory and experiment where available. Uncertainties of all recommended values are estimated. The magic wavelengths for the uv 2s-3p transition are of particular interest for the production of a quantum gas of lithium [Duarte et al., Phys. Rev. A 84, 061406R (2011)].