Two-Color Magneto-Optical Trap with Small Magnetic Field for Ytterbium

We report a two-color magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ytterbium atoms operating at a low magnetic field gradient down to 2 G/cm where a conventional MOT using the singlet transition (6s^2 1S0 -> 6s6p 1P1) is unable to trap atoms. By simultaneously applying laser light on both the broad-linewidth singlet transition and the narrow-linewidth triplet transition (6s^2 1S0 -> 6s6p 3P1), we load and trap 4.0 x 10^5 atoms directly from an atomic beam at 700 K. In the two-color MOT, the slowing and trapping functions are separately performed by the singlet transition light and the triplet transition light, respectively. The two-color MOT is highly robust against laser power imbalance even at very low magnetic field gradients.

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