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Generation of metastable krypton using a 124 nm laser

ORAL

Abstract

We have realized optical excitation of krypton to the metastable level with an efficiency as high as 23 % using near-resonant 124 nm light produced by four-wave-mixing in mercury vapor. Self-absorption in mercury is circumvented by adjusting detuning and phase match according to experimental and theoretical characterizations. Density matrix calculations of the metastable krypton generation agree with the measured dependencies of the excitation efficiency, indicating pathways towards a further improvement. The obtained excitation efficiency, being one order of magnitude higher than that of previously demonstrated techniques, enables a new metastable density regime for atomic physics applications, including magnetometry, atom lithography and radioisotope dating.

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Presenters

  • Xize Dong

    University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

Authors

  • Xize Dong

    University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

  • Zheng-Tian Lu

    University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

  • Wei jiang

    University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

  • Florian Ritterbusch

    University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

  • Xing-An Wang

    University of Science and Technology of China

  • Dao-Fu Yuan

    University of Science and Technology of China

  • Jie S Wang

    University of Science and Technology of China

  • Jing-Wen Yan

    University of Science and Technology of China

  • Guo-Min Yang

    University of Science and Technology of China

  • Wen-Tao Chen

    University of Science and Technology of China