Atom-Number Enhancement by Shielding Atoms From Losses in Strontium Magneto-Optical Traps

We present a scheme to enhance the atom number in magneto-optical traps of strontium atoms operating on the 461 nm transition. This scheme consists of resonantly driving the $^1$S$_0\to^3$P$_1$ intercombination line at 689 nm, which continuously populates a short-lived reservoir state and, as expected from a theoretical model, partially shields the atomic cloud from losses arising in the 461 nm cooling cycle. We show a factor of two enhancement in the atom number for the bosonic isotopes $^{88}$Sr and $^{84}$Sr, and the fermionic isotope $^{87}$Sr, in good agreement with our model. Our scheme can be applied in the majority of strontium experiments without increasing the experimental complexity of the apparatus, since the employed 689 nm transition is commonly used for further cooling. Our method should thus be beneficial to a broad range of quantum science and technology applications exploiting cold strontium atoms, and could be extended to other atomic species.