Experimental work on cold, trapped metastable noble gases is reviewed. The aspects which distinguish work with these atoms from the large body of work on cold, trapped atoms in general is emphasized. These aspects include detection techniques and collision processes unique to metastable atoms. Several experiments exploiting these unique features in fields including atom optics and statistical physics are described. Precision measurements on these atoms including fine structure splittings, isotope shifts, and atomic lifetimes are also discussed.

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Cold and trapped metastable noble gases

An intense collimated beam of metastable helium atoms by two-dimensional laser cooling

The bichromatic force has been used to both slow and collimate a beam of metastable 2(3)S He atoms (He*). The collimation capture range is an extraordinary +/-85 m/s corresponding to approximately 0.18 radians from our source. Both slowing and collimation were accomplished in the unprecedented short distance of approximately 5 cm each. The overall brightness increase is x3200, and there is potential for considerably more.

Bichromatic slowing and collimation to make an intense helium beam.

A room-temperature beam of krypton atoms in the metastable 5s[3∕2]2 level is demonstrated via an optical excitation method A Kr-discharge lamp is used to produce vacuum ultraviolet photons at 124nm for the first-step excitation from the ground level 4p6S01 to the 5s[3∕2]1 level An 819nm Ti:sapphire laser is used for the second-step excitation from 5s[3∕2]1 to 5s[3∕2]2 followed by a spontaneous decay to the 5s[3∕2]2 metastable level A metastable atomic beam with an angular flux density of 3×1014s−1sr−1 is achieved at the total gas flow rate of 001cm3∕s at STP (or 3×1017at∕s) The dependences of the flux on the gas flow rate, laser power, and lamp parameters are investigated

http://staff.ustc.edu.cn/~smhu/publication/RSI78_2007_Kr_Ding.pdf

Thermal beam of metastable krypton atoms produced by optical excitation

We present our study of the realization of atom trap trace analysis for 39Ar, an ultra-sensitive detection method for rare isotopes based on laser cooling. We report on the experimental determination of the hyperfine spectrum of the relevant cooling transition. A high-intensity, optically collimated beam of metastable argon atoms has been set up, and fluorescence detection of single 40Ar atoms in a magneto-optical trap is realized. The deduced efficiencies of each stage lead to an expected 39Ar count rate of six atoms per hour in the final setup.

Towards the realization of atom trap trace analysis for 39 Ar

A metastable neon (1S5) atomic beam with a velocity of 394 m/s (373 K) and an intensity of 1.1×1015 s−1 sr−1 is produced with a novel construction using a dc glow discharge.

M. Hagiuda

Papers

Generation of an intense low-velocity metastable-neon atomic beam