Observation of electric-dipole transitions in the laser-cooling candidate Th- And its application for cooling antiprotons

Despite the fact that the laser-cooling method is a well-established technique to obtain ultracold neutral atoms and atomic cations, it has rarely if ever been applied to atomic anions due to the lack of suitable electric-dipole transitions. Efforts of more than a decade have until recently only resulted in La- as a promising anion candidate for laser cooling, but our previous work [Tang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 203002 (2019)10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.203002] showed that Th- is also a potential candidate. Here we report on a combination of experimental and theoretical studies to determine the frequencies and rates, as well as branching ratios, for the relevant transitions in Th-. The resonant frequency of the laser-cooling transition is determined to be ν=123.455(30) THz [λ=2428.4(6)nm]. The transition rate is calculated as A=1.17×104s-1. Since the branching fraction to dark states is negligible, 1.47×10-10, this represents an ideal closed cycle in Th- for laser cooling. Furthermore, the zero nuclear spin of Th232 makes the cooling process possible in a Penning trap, which can be used to confine both antiprotons and Th- ions. The presented ion dynamics simulations show that the laser-cooled Th- anions can effectively cool antiprotons to a temperature around 10 mK.