Multiply charged thorium crystals for nuclear laser spectroscopy.
We have produced laser-cooled crystals of 232Th3+ in a linear rf Paul trap. This is the first time that a multiply charged ion has been laser cooled. Our work opens an avenue for excitation of the nuclear transition in a trapped, cold 229Th3+ ion. Laser excitation of nuclear states would establish a new bridge between atomic and nuclear physics, with the promise of new levels of metrological precision.
Campbell
C J
CJ
School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0430, USA.
Steele
A V
AV
Churchill
L R
LR
Depalatis
M V
MV
Naylor
D E
DE
Matsukevich
D N
DN
Kuzmich
A
A
Chapman
M S
MS