Radiative lifetime of the A 2Π1/2 state in RaF with relevance to laser cooling

2024/03/14 by M. Athanasakis-Kaklamanakis, S. G. Wilkins, Athanasakis-Kaklamanakis, M. +79 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.09336

openalex publication_date 2024/03/14 · openalex created_date 2024/03/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

The radiative lifetime of the A ² Π_1/2 (v=0) state in radium monofluoride (RaF) is measured to be 35(1) ns. The lifetime of this state and the related decay rate Γ= 2.86(8) × 10⁷ s^-1 are of relevance to the laser cooling of RaF via the optically closed A ² Π_1/2 ← X ²Σ_1/2 transition, which makes the molecule a promising probe to search for new physics. RaF is found to have a comparable photon-scattering rate to homoelectronic laser-coolable molecules. Thanks to its highly diagonal Franck-Condon matrix, it is expected to scatter an order of magnitude more photons than other molecules when using just 3 cooling lasers, before it decays to a dark state. The lifetime measurement in RaF is benchmarked by measuring the lifetime of the 8P_3/2 state in Fr to be 83(3) ns, in agreement with literature.

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