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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 12: Poster – Cold Atoms and Molecules, Matter Waves (joint session Q/A/MO)
MO 12.10: Poster
Dienstag, 11. März 2025, 14:00–16:00, Tent
Cooling and trapping of Hg atoms with enhanced UV laser systems — •Rudolf Homm and Thomas Walther — Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Angewandte Physik, Laser und Quantenoptik, Schlossgartenstraße 7, 64289 Darmstadt
The use of cold Hg atoms in a MOT offers a variety of experimental opportunities. The two stable fermionic isotopes are promising for a new time standard based on an optical lattice clock, using the 1S0 - 3P0 transition at 265.6 nm. All stable isotopes can also form ultracold Hg dimers via photoassociation, combined with vibrational cooling.
Our setup includes two UV laser systems combined with a MOT for Hg atoms and a 2D-MOT for isotope preselection. Each laser system consists of a MOFA configuration, followed by two frequency-doubling stages.
The cooling laser provides a stable frequency and high power, generating over 1 W at 253.7 nm using Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy and an elliptical focus within the BBO crystal. The spectroscopy laser produces over 300 mW at 254.1 nm, mode hop free tunable over 16 GHz with a maximum scan rate of 3 Hz, using a feed-forward setup to stabilize the cavities.
We aim to achieve a high density of Hg atoms in the MOT to improve the signal for dimer spectroscopy. The latest results on trapping of Hg atoms with the improved UV laser systems will be presented.
Keywords: Mercury; Hg; UV; laser; Photoassociation