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This is a bit open ended, (and probably poorly asked,) but I've noticed that most experimental trapping only works for alkali metals.

I know with my limited understanding of how a MOT works, that for MOTs we require that certain transitions be possible. Is this limiting factor for all sorts of trapping schemes?

I was wondering why we are limited to certain elements? (Or more specifically, if someone could point me to a paper that can explain so, since I'm not even sure where to start in the literature).

Jlee523
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An optical trap requires the trapped atoms to have some electronic transition that is driven by the laser. Alkali atoms have one or two valence electrons which are loosely bound and have low-energy excitations. Infrared and visible lasers were developed before UV, so the first traps were made using atoms with infrared transitions.

rob
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