corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 82 » Issue 21
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4204–4207 (1999)

Ultrastable CO2 Laser Trapping of Lithium Fermions

Download: PDF (139 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

K. M. O'Hara, S. R. Granade, M. E. Gehm, T. A. Savard, S. Bali, C. Freed*, and J. E. Thomas
Physics Department, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0305

Received 8 March 1999; published in the issue dated 24 May 1999

See accompanying Physics Focus

We demonstrate an ultrastable CO2 laser trap that provides tight confinement of neutral atoms with negligible optical scattering and minimal laser-noise-induced heating. Using this method, fermionic 6Li atoms are stored in a 0.4 mK deep well with a 1/e trap lifetime of 300 sec, consistent with a background pressure of 10-11Torr. To our knowledge, this is the longest storage time ever achieved with an all-optical trap, comparable to the best reported magnetic traps.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4204
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4204
PACS:
32.80.Pj

*Permanent Address: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >