Two-Photon Ionization of the Calcium 4S3D 1D2 Level in an Optical Dipole Trap

This thesis reports an optical dipole trap for atomic calcium. The dipole trap is loaded from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of calcium atoms cooled near the Doppler limit (~1 mK). The dipole trap is formed by a large-frame argon ion laser focused to 20 microns into the center of the MOT. This laser runs single-line at 488 nm with a maximum power of 10.6 watts. These parameters result in a trap of 125 mK for calcium atoms in the 4s3d 1D2 state. The 488 nm light also photo-ionizes the trapped atoms due to a near-resonant transition to the 4s4f 1F3 level. These ions leave the trap and are detected to determine the trap decay rate. By measuring this decay rate as a function of 488 nm intensity, we determine the 1F3 photo-ionization cross section at this wavelength to be approximately 230 Mb.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Daily, Jared Estus

• optical dipole trap
• calcium
• atomic physics
• atomic spectroscopy
• laser cooling
• ionization cross section
• magneto optical trap
• Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Physics

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/243

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1242