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Updated: Oct 27, 2025

Experimental Methods for Trapping Ions Using Microfabricated Surface Ion Traps
Published on: August 17, 2017
Optical Excitation and Trapping of ^{81}Kr
J S Wang1, F Ritterbusch1, X-Z Dong1
1Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei 230026, China.
Abstract:
We have realized optical excitation, trapping, and detection of the radioisotope ^{81}Kr with an isotopic abundance of 0.9 ppt. The 124 nm light needed for the production of metastable atoms is generated by a resonant discharge lamp. Photon transport through the optically thick krypton gas inside the lamp is simulated and optimized to enhance both brightness and resonance. We achieve a state-of-the-art ^{81}Kr loading rate of 1800 atoms/h, which can be further scaled up by adding more lamps. The all-optical approach overcomes the limitations on precision and sample size of radiokrypton dating, enabling new applications in the earth sciences, particularly for dating of polar ice cores.

