{
  "id": "1906.06731",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2019-06-16T17:18:33.000Z",
  "updated": "2019-06-16T17:18:33.000Z",
  "title": "Optical Quenching of Metastable Helium Atoms using Excitation to the $4P$ State",
  "authors": [
    "Jiwen Guan",
    "Vivien Behrendt",
    "Pinrui Shen",
    "Simon Hofsäss",
    "Thilina Muthu-Arachchige",
    "Jonas Grzesiak",
    "Frank Stienkemeier",
    "Katrin Dulitz"
  ],
  "journal": "Phys. Rev. Appl. 11(5) (2019) 054073",
  "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.054073",
  "categories": [
    "physics.atom-ph",
    "physics.app-ph",
    "physics.chem-ph"
  ],
  "abstract": "Discharge and electron-impact excitation lead to the production of metastable helium atoms in two metastable states, 2$^1$S$_0$ and 2$^3$S$_1$. However, many applications require pure beams of one of these species or at least a detailed knowledge of the relative state populations. In this paper, we present the characterization of an original experimental scheme for the optical depletion of He(2$^1$S$_0$) in a supersonic beam which is based on the optical excitation of the 4$^1$P$_1 \\leftarrow 2^1$S$_0$ transition at 397 nm using a diode laser. From our experimental results and from a comparison with numerical calculations, we infer a near unit depletion efficiency at all beam velocities under study (1070 m/s $\\leq v \\leq$ 1750 m/s). Since the technique provides a direct means to determine the singlet-to-triplet ratio in a pulsed supersonic helium beam, our results show that the intrabeam singlet-to-triplet ratio is different at the trailing edges of the gas pulse.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2019-06-16T17:18:33.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "metastable helium atoms",
      "excitation",
      "optical quenching",
      "unit depletion efficiency",
      "original experimental scheme"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "APS",
      "journal": "Phys. Rev. Appl."
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 0,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable"
    }
  }
}