Abstract
We observe the population dynamics within a metastable neon magneto-optical trap (MOT) through the measurement of the average squared Clebsch-Gordan coefficient ${C}^{2}$ over a range of laser detunings. The magnitude of ${C}^{2}$ is dependent on the internal quantum state of an atom interacting with the light field and is found to show a strong dependence on the applied laser detuning. Previously it has been reported [Townsend et al., Phys. Rev. A 52, 1423 (1995)] that trapped atoms in a MOT are pumped towards the states that interact most strongly with the local field and therefore the measured value of ${C}^{2}$ is larger than the average over all possible transitions. For the ${}^{3}{P}_{2}$-to-${}^{3}{D}_{3}$ cooling transition in metastable neon the average ${C}^{2}$ value is equal to 0.46; however, we have measured $0.29\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03<{C}^{2}<0.73\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.09$. We explain this range of values for ${C}^{2}$ by considering the possible transition rates between the different magnetic sublevels in the system. This result has significant consequences when trap populations are measured via fluorescence in a MOT.
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