Magneto-optical trapping of metastable xenon: Isotope-shift measurements

We have magneto-optically trapped the nine stable isotopes of xenon. Using the Zeeman slowing method to decelerate a beam of xenon atoms in the metastable 6s 3/2 [3/2]₂ state (notation representing nl Jcore [K=Jcore+l]J), we load our trap to a collisionally limited density of more than 10¹⁰ atoms/cm³. The two odd isotopes are trapped without a repumping frequency, even though they have hyperfine structure. The sensitivity of the trapping process to the laser frequency is exploited to make accurate measurements of the isotope shifts for the 6s 3/2 [3/2]₂{→}6p 3/2 [5/2]₃ laser-cooling transition and of the hyperfine constants for ¹³¹Xe.