The bound–bound transition from the $5d^{2}6s^2$ ${}^3{F}_2^e$ ground state to the $5d6s^{2}6p$ ${}^3{D}_1^o$ excited state in negative lanthanum has been proposed as a candidate for laser cooling, which has not yet been achieved for negative ions. Anion laser cooling holds the potential to allow the production of ultracold ensembles of any negatively charged species. We have studied the aforementioned transition in a beam of negative La ions by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The center-of-gravity frequency was measured to be 96.592 80(10) THz. Seven of the nine expected hyperfine structure transitions were resolved. The observed peaks were unambiguously assigned to the predicted hyperfine transitions by a fit, confirmed by multiconfigurational self-consistent field calculations. From the determined hyperfine structure we conclude that ${\mathrm{La}}^{-}$ is a promising laser cooling candidate. Using this transition, only three laser beams would be required to repump all hyperfine levels of the ground state.

• Received 20 May 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.113001