2008/04/25 by N. Kurz, M. R. Dietrich, Matthew Dietrich +6 · 41 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Analytical Chemistry (journal) #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Atomic physics #Branching fraction #Chemistry #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Physics #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.77.060501
published in Physical Review A 77(6) (American Physical Society) · 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table
arxiv created 2008/04/25 · openalex publication_date 2008/06/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a measurement of the branching ratios from the 6P3∕2 state of Ba\phantom\rule0.2em0exII into all dipole-allowed decay channels (6S1∕2, 5D3∕2, and 5D5∕2). Measurements were performed on single 138Ba+ ions in a linear Paul trap with a frequency-doubled mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser resonant with the 6S1∕2\ensuremath→6P3∕2 transition at 455\phantom\rule0.3em0exnm by detection of electron shelving into the dark 5D5∕2 state. By driving a \ensuremathπ Rabi rotation with a single femtosecond pulse, an absolute measurement of the branching ratio to 5D5∕2 state was performed. Combined with a measurement of the relative decay rates into 5D3∕2 and 5D5∕2 states performed with long trains of highly attenuated 455\phantom\rule0.3em0exnm pulses, it allowed the extraction of the absolute ratios of the other two decays. Relative strengths normalized to unity are found to be 0.756\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.046, 0.0290\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.0015, and 0.215\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.0064 for 6S1∕2, 5D3∕2, and 5D5∕2, respectively. This approximately constitutes a threefold improvement over the best previous measurements and is a sufficient level of precision to compare to calculated values for dipole matrix elements.