Laser Manipulation of Indium Atoms

Abstract

This thesis presents experiments on laser cooling of an indium atomic beam. The long-term goal of this experiment is to deposit indium atoms on a substrate using a standing wave light mask. The atomic beam has to be initially collimated using laser cooling method, wherein optical fields are used to decrease the atomic velocity distribution in one or two dimensions. In this thesis, one-dimensional tranverse laser cooling of an indium atomic beam was experimentally realized. Since there is no closed atomic transition, with a well-populated initial state for indium, a Lamda-scheme was employed for laser cooling. The driven indium transitions are at the wavelengths of 410nm and 451nm. To ensure that the lasers are nearly resonant with the relevant atomic transitions, one and two-color spectroscopy of indium was investigated, and laser frequency stabilization schemes were implemented.<br /> Due to the rich multi-level structure of indium, different cooling configurations were investigated. The cooling effects for different intensities, detunings and polarizations of the light fields are presented. The damping force was calculated using the semi-classical approach.