Sub-nanometer optical linewidth of thulium atoms in rare gas crystals

Autor: Gaire, Vinod, Raman, Chandra S., Parker, Colin V.
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Phys. Rev. A 99, 022505 (2019)
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.99.022505
Popis: We investigate the 1140 nm magnetic dipole transition of thulium atoms trapped in solid argon and neon. These solids can be straightforwardly grown on any substrate at cryogenic temperatures, making them prime targets for surface sensing applications. Our data are well described by a splitting of the single vacuum transition into three components in both argon and neon, with each component narrower than the 0.8 nm spectrometer resolution. The lifetime of the excited states is 14.6(0.5) ms in argon and 27(3) ms in neon, shorter than in vacuum or in solid helium. We also collected visible laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy showing broader emission features in the range of 580-600 nm. The narrow infrared features in particular suggest a range of possible applications.
Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures - accepted at PRA
Databáze: arXiv