2025/07/16 by Paladugu, Sai Naga Manoj, Pilgram, Nickolas, Eckel, Stephen +1
#Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.12291
We have directly loaded a cryogenic beam of molybdenum atoms into a magneto-optical trap. By chirping the detuning of the trapping lasers, we were able to enhance the number of atoms loaded into the trap by more than a factor of two. We optimize the trapped samples for atom number, temperature, and lifetime by varying the laser-cooling parameters. The laser-cooled molybdenum atoms are subsequently transferred to a magnetic trap where we achieve vacuum-limited lifetimes of 100 ms. Comparison of magneto-optical trap and magnetic trap lifetimes allow us to extract partial decay rates of the z 7Po4\rightarrowa 5D4 and z 7Po4\rightarrowa 5D3 transitions. We also provide measurements of the isotope shifts for the a 7S3→ z 7Po4 transition with up to four times better precision than previously reported. Finally, we discuss the prospect of applying the chriped magneto-optical trap to produce laser-cooled samples of MgF.