Hyperfine spectroscopy and laser cooling of the fermionic isotopes $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates magneto-optical trapping of the fermionic isotopes $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti, providing detailed hyperfine structure measurements and achieving trapping with hundreds of atoms and lifetimes around 300ms.

Contribution

It reports the first magneto-optical traps of $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti, including hyperfine structure determination and laser cooling techniques for these isotopes.

Findings

Trapped 731(190) atoms of $^{47}$Ti with 330ms lifetime.

Trapped 1142(240) atoms of $^{49}$Ti with 310ms lifetime.

Determined hyperfine structures and isotope shifts for relevant transitions.

Abstract

We report on magneto-optical trapping of the two fermionic isotopes of atomic titanium, $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti. Unlike the even mass-number isotopes, which were recently laser cooled, $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti have nonzero nuclear spins and, consequently, their atomic levels are split by hyperfine structure. Combining and comparing theoretical calculations and atomic beam-spectroscopy measurements, we determine the hyperfine structures and isotope shifts of the $\mathrm{3d^24s^2}$ $\mathrm{a^3F_4\rightarrow 3d^2(^3P)4s4p(^3P^o)}$ $\mathrm{y^5D_4^o}$ optical-pumping transition at optical wavelength 391nm and the $\mathrm{3d^3(^4F)4s}$ $\mathrm{a^5F_5\rightarrow 3d^3(^4F)4p}$ $\mathrm{y^5G_6^o}$ laser-cooling transition at wavelength 498nm. With this information, we produce magneto-optical traps of both $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti by applying two additional tones of light to repump atoms to the maximum-spin states on the laser-cooling transition. Directly loading from the atomic flux of a titanium sublimation pump, we produce $^{47}$Ti and $^{49}$Ti traps with 731(190) and 1142(240) atoms, and with lifetimes of 330(15)ms and 310(8)ms, respectively.