Physics – Atomic Physics
Scientific paper
2000-02-15
Physics
Atomic Physics
15 pages including 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review A
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevA.62.032503
We report a measurement of the lifetime of the 3d 2D_{5/2} metastable level in 40Ca+, using quantum jumps of a single cold calcium ion in a linear Paul trap. The 4s S_{1/2} - 3d D_{5/2} transition is significant for single-ion optical frequency standards, astrophysical references, and tests of atomic structure calculations. We obtain tau = 1.168 +- 0.007 s from observation of nearly 64,000 quantum jumps during approximately 32 hours. Our result is more precise and significantly larger than previous measurements. Experiments carried out to quantity systematic effects included a study of a previously unremarked source of systematic error, namely excitation by the broad background of radiation emitted by a semiconductor diode laser. Combining our result with atomic structure calculations yields 1.20 +- 0.01 s for the lifetime of 3d D_{3/2}. We also use quantum jump observations to demonstrate photon anti-bunching, and to estimate background pressure and heating rates in the ion trap.
Barton P. A.
Donald C. J. S.
Lucas David M.
Stacey D. N.
Steane Andrew M.
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