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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23245 |
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| _version_ | 1866918222488403968 |
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| author | Marin-Bujedo, Eduardo Grondin, Julien A. L. Schiltz, Thomas Corbo, Thomas Urbain, Xavier Génévriez, Matthieu |
| author_facet | Marin-Bujedo, Eduardo Grondin, Julien A. L. Schiltz, Thomas Corbo, Thomas Urbain, Xavier Génévriez, Matthieu |
| contents | We report the construction and characterization of an experimental setup for producing a cold gas of $^{40}$Ca atoms and excite them to high Rydberg states with a resonant three-photon-excitation scheme. The apparatus comprises four stages, each designed in-house. An oven heated to $\sim 500^\circ$C generates an atomic beam that is collimated by a capillary stack. The beam is sent into a passive, permanent-magnet-based Zeeman slower that reduces the atomic velocity to $30$ m/s. The slow atoms are captured in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and cooled to $1.0(3)$ mK with a trapping time of $16(2)$ ms. Ground-state atoms in the cold gas are excited to high Rydberg states via resonant excitation through the intermediate $4s4p\, ^1P_1$ and $4s4d\, ^1D_2$ states. The MOT is operated at the center of an electrode stack, which serves to apply continuous and pulsed electric fields and field-ionize the Rydberg atoms for detection. We benchmark our MOT against previous implementations and find its performance consistent with state-of-the-art results in terms of temperature and trapping lifetime. Finally, we demonstrate Rydberg spectroscopy of calcium, confirming the system's suitability for ultracold Rydberg physics experiments. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_23245 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A permanent-magnet Zeeman slower and magneto-optical trap for calcium atoms for ultracold Rydberg physics Marin-Bujedo, Eduardo Grondin, Julien A. L. Schiltz, Thomas Corbo, Thomas Urbain, Xavier Génévriez, Matthieu Atomic Physics Quantum Physics We report the construction and characterization of an experimental setup for producing a cold gas of $^{40}$Ca atoms and excite them to high Rydberg states with a resonant three-photon-excitation scheme. The apparatus comprises four stages, each designed in-house. An oven heated to $\sim 500^\circ$C generates an atomic beam that is collimated by a capillary stack. The beam is sent into a passive, permanent-magnet-based Zeeman slower that reduces the atomic velocity to $30$ m/s. The slow atoms are captured in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and cooled to $1.0(3)$ mK with a trapping time of $16(2)$ ms. Ground-state atoms in the cold gas are excited to high Rydberg states via resonant excitation through the intermediate $4s4p\, ^1P_1$ and $4s4d\, ^1D_2$ states. The MOT is operated at the center of an electrode stack, which serves to apply continuous and pulsed electric fields and field-ionize the Rydberg atoms for detection. We benchmark our MOT against previous implementations and find its performance consistent with state-of-the-art results in terms of temperature and trapping lifetime. Finally, we demonstrate Rydberg spectroscopy of calcium, confirming the system's suitability for ultracold Rydberg physics experiments. |
| title | A permanent-magnet Zeeman slower and magneto-optical trap for calcium atoms for ultracold Rydberg physics |
| topic | Atomic Physics Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.23245 |