Eur. Phys. J. D 17, 285-291 (2001)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530170002

Photoionization cross-sections of the first excited states of sodium and lithium in a magneto-optical trap

¹ Institut für Experimentalphysik, Technische Universität Graz, Petersgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria
² INFM, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Via F. Buonarroti 2, 56127 Pisa, Italy

Corresponding authors: ^a vw@iep.tu-graz.ac.at - ^b l.windholz@iep.tu-graz.ac.at

Received: 21 March 2001
Revised: 3 August 2001
Published online: 15 December 2001

Abstract

A two element magneto-optical trap (MOT) for Na and ⁷Li or ⁶Li is used to cool and trap each of them separately. A fraction of the cold atoms is maintained in the first ²P_3/2 excited state by the cooling laser. These excited state atoms are ionized by laser light in the near-UV region, giving rise to a smaller number of trapped atoms and to different loading parameters. Photoionization cross-sections were derived out of these data. They are in reasonable agreement with data previously obtained using thermal samples and with theoretical predictions.