Abstract Submitted for the DAMOP14 Meeting of The American Physical Society A Promising Candidate for Laser Cooling of Negative Ions: Ob-

Submitted for the DAMOP14 Meeting of The American Physical Society A Promising Candidate for Laser Cooling of Negative Ions: Observations of Bound-Bound Transitions in La−1 C.W. WALTER, N.D. GIBSON, D.J. MATYAS, C.T. CROCKER, K.A. DUNGAN, B.R. MATOLA, Denison University, Granville, OH, J. ROHLÉN, University of Gothenburg, Sweden — The negative ion of lanthanum, La−, has been previously proposed as perhaps the best candidate of any atomic anion for laser cooling based on theoretical analysis [1]. In the present experiments, transitions between bound states of La− are investigated using tunable infrared photodetachment spectroscopy. The relative signal for neutral atom production was measured with a crossed ion-beam–laser-beam apparatus over the photon energy range 290–580 meV. The spectrum reveals at least ten sharp resonance peaks, some of which are interpreted as due to bound-bound electric dipole transitions in La− observed through resonant two-photon detachment. The richness of the observed bound state spectrum is unprecedented for atomic negative ions, and it highlights the unique properties of La− for applications such as laser cooling. [1] S.M. O’Malley and D.R. Beck, Phys. Rev. A 81, 032503 (2010). 1This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0757976 and 1068308. C. Wesley Walter Denison University Date submitted: 31 Jan 2014 Electronic form version 1.4