Enhancing the capture velocity of a Dy magneto-optical trap with two-stage slowing

Abstract

© 2020 American Physical Society. Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) based on the 626-nm, 136-kHz-wide intercombination line of Dy, which has an attractively low Doppler temperature of 3.3μK, have been implemented in a growing number of experiments over the last several years. A challenge in loading these MOTs comes from their low capture velocities. Slowed atomic beams can spread out significantly during free flight from the Zeeman slower to the MOT position, reducing the fraction of the beam captured by the MOT. Here we apply a scheme for enhancing the loading rate of the MOT wherein atoms are Zeeman slowed to a final velocity larger than the MOT's capture velocity and then undergo a final stage of slowing by a pair of near-detuned beams addressing the 421-nm transition directly in front of the MOT. By reducing the free-flight time of the Zeeman-slowed atomic beam, we greatly enhance the slowed flux delivered to the MOT, leading to more than an order-of-magnitude enhancement in the final MOT population.