title: Ion current as a precise measure of the loading rate of a magneto-optical trap.
abstract: We have demonstrated that the ion current resulting from collisions between metastable krypton atoms in a magneto-optical trap can be used to precisely measure the trap loading rate. We measured both the ion current of the abundant isotope 83Kr (isotopic abundance=11%) and the single-atom counting rate of the rare isotope 85Kr (isotopic abundance∼1×10(-11)), and found the two quantities to be proportional at a precision level of 0.9%. This work results in a significant improvement in using the magneto-optical trap as an analytical tool for noble-gas isotope ratio measurements, and will benefit both atomic physics studies and applications in the earth sciences.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: Z-T
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Purtschert