Transverse laser cooling of a thermal atomic beam of dysprosium

Abstract

A thermal atomic beam of dysprosium atoms is cooled using the 4f106s2(J=8)→4f106s6p(J=9) transition at 421 nm. The cooling is done via a standing light wave orthogonal to the atomic beam. Efficient transverse cooling to the Doppler limit is demonstrated for all observable isotopes of dysprosium. Branching ratios to metastable states are demonstrated to be <5×10-4. A scheme for enhancement of the nonzero-nuclear-spin-isotope cooling and a method for direct identification of possible trap states are proposed.