Trapping radioactive ^{82}Rb in an optical dipole trap and evidence of spontaneous spin polarization

Abstract

Optical trapping of selected species of radioactive atoms has great potential in precision measurements for testing fundamental physics such as EDM, PNC and parity violating beta-decay asymmetry correlation coefficients. We report trapping of 10^4 radioactive ^{82}Rb atoms (t_{1/2}=75 s) with a trap lifetime of ~55 seconds in an optical dipole trap. Transfer efficiency from the magneto-optical trap was ~14%. We further report the evidence of spontaneous spin polarization of the atoms in optical dipole trap loading. This advancement is an important step towards a new generation of precision J-beta correlations measurements with polarized ^{82}Rb atoms.