Magneto-optical Trapping of Cadmium

Abstract

We report the laser-cooling and confinement of Cd atoms in a magneto-optical trap, and characterize the loading process from the background Cd vapor. The trapping laser drives the 1S0-1P1 transition at 229 nm in this two-electron atom and also photoionizes atoms directly from the 1P1 state. This photoionization overwhelms the other loss mechanisms and allows a direct measurement of the photoionization cross section, which we measure to be 2(1)x10^(-16)cm^(2) from the 1P1 state. When combined with nearby laser-cooled and trapped Cd^(+) ions, this apparatus could facilitate studies in ultracold interactions between atoms and ions.