Differential polarizability at 1064 nm of the strontium intercombination transition

TL;DR

This study precisely measures the differential polarizability components of strontium's intercombination transition at 1064 nm, confirming theoretical predictions and identifying a near-circular 'magic' polarization to optimize laser cooling.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental measurement of scalar, vector, and tensor polarizability components at this wavelength, validating atomic models and identifying a polarization condition for improved cooling.

Findings

Good agreement between experiment and theory.

Identification of a 'magic' polarization with zero differential polarizability.

Provides a benchmark for atomic models in the near-infrared range.

Abstract

We measure the scalar, vector and tensor components of the differential dynamic polarizability of the strontium intercombination transition at 1064 nm. We compare the experimental values with the theoretical prediction based on the most recently published spectroscopic data, and find a very good agreement. We also identify a close-to-circular `magic' polarization where the differential polarizability strictly vanishes, and precisely determine its ellipticity. Our work opens new perspectives for laser cooling optically trapped strontium atoms, and provides a new benchmark for atomic models in the near infrared spectral range.