Precision measurement of the branching ratio in the 6P3/2 decay of BaII with a single trapped ion

Abstract

We present a measurement of the branching ratios from the 6P3/2 state of BaII into all dipoleallowed decay channels (6S1/2, 5D3/2 and 5D5/2). Measurements were performed on single 138Ba+ ions in a linear Paul trap with a frequency-doubled mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser resonant with the 6S1/2->6P3/2 transition at 455 nm by detection of electron shelving into the dark 5D5/2 state. By driving a pi Rabi rotation with a single femtosecond pulse, a absolute measurement of the branching ratio to 5D5/2 state was performed. Combined with a measurement of the relative decay rates into 5D3/2 and 5D5/2 states performed with long trains of highly attenuated 455 nm pulses, it allowed the extraction of the absolute ratios of the other two decays. Relative strengths normalized to unity are found to be 0.756+/-0.046, 0.0290+/-0.0015 and 0.215+/-0.0064 for 6S1/2, 5D3/2 and 5D5/2 respectively. This approximately constitutes a threefold improvement over the best previous measurements and is a sufficient level of precision to compare to calculated values for dipole matrix elements.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (5)

• Calculations of the Relativistic Effects in Many-Electron Atoms and Space-Time Variation of Fundamental Constants
• Calculations of parity nonconserving s-d transitions in Cs, Fr, Ba II, and Ra II
• Atomic optical clocks and search for variation of the fine structure constant
• Population transfer between two quantum states by piecewise chirping of femtosecond pulses: Theory and experiment
• Isotope shift calculations for atoms with one valence electron

Cited by in corpus (20)

• The elemental composition of the Sun III. The heavy elements Cu to Th
• Atomic data for the Gaia-ESO Survey
• Precision measurement of the branching fractions of the 4P3/2 decay of Ca II
• Precision Measurement Method for Branching Fractions of Excited P1/2 States Applied to 40Ca+
• Efficient fluorescence collection from trapped ions with an integrated spherical mirror
• Precision measurements on the ${}^{138}$Ba${}^{+}$ $6s^2{S}_{1/2}-5d^2{D}_{5/2}$ clock transition
• Trapped Ion Imaging with a High Numerical Aperture Spherical Mirror
• Precision measurement of the branching fractions of the 5p 2 P 1/2 state in 88 Sr + with a single ion in a micro fabricated surface trap
• Precision measurement of branching fractions of ${}^{138}$Ba${}^{+}$: Testing many body theories below one percent level
• Measurement of the branching fractions and lifetime of the $5D_{5/2}$ level of Ba${}^{+}$
• Measurements of the branching ratios for $6P_{1/2}$ decays in ${}^{138}$Ba${}^{+}$
• Radiative Transition Properties of Singly Charged Magnesium, Calcium, Strontium and Barium Ions
• Branching fractions for $P_{3/2}$ decays in Ba${}^{+}$
• Iterative Precision Measurement of Branching Ratios Applied to 5P states in 88Sr+
• Electric dipole transition amplitudes for atoms and ions with one valence electron
• Coherent Excitation of the 6S1/2 to 5D3/2 Electric Quadrupole Transition in 138Ba+
• A Method for Measuring the $6S_{1/2}\leftrightarrow 5D_{3/2}$ Magnetic Dipole Transition Moment in {Ba}${}^{+}$
• Nuclear spin qubits in a trapped-ion quantum computer
• Magic wavelength of the ${}^{138}$Ba${}^{+}$ $6s{}^2{S}_{1/2}-5d{}^2{D}_{5/2}$ clock transition
• Measurement of Lande g factor of 5D5/2 state of BaII with a single trapped ion