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arXiv:1009.1358 · Physical Review A

Combined quantum-state preparation and laser cooling of a continuous beam of cold atoms

Gianni Di Domenico, Laurent Devenoges, Claire Dumas, P. Thomann

Published Nov 29, 2010• 20 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We use two-laser optical pumping on a continuous atomic fountain in order to prepare cold cesium atoms in the same quantum ground state. A first laser excites the $F=4$ ground state to pump the atoms toward $F=3$ while a second $\ensuremath{\pi}$-polarized laser excites the $F=3\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{F}^{'}=3$ transition of the ${D}_{2}$ line to produce Zeeman pumping toward $m=0$. To avoid trap states, we implement the first laser in a two-dimensional optical lattice geometry, thereby creating polarization gradients. This configuration has the advantage of simultaneously producing Sisyphus cooling when the optical lattice laser is tuned between the $F=4\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{F}^{'}=4$ and $F=4\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{F}^{'}=5$ transitions of the ${D}_{2}$ line, which is important to remove the heat produced by optical pumping. Detuning the frequency of the second $\ensuremath{\pi}$-polarized laser reveals the action of a mechanism improving both laser cooling and state-preparation efficiency. A physical interpretation of this mechanism is discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.82.053417

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Summary form only given. Laser cooled atoms play a critical role in modern designs of frequency standards such as atomic fountains. Recently, an elegant and efficient method of two-dimensional cooling to the vibrational ground state of a far-off resonance optical lattice has been demonstrated. This method is a variant of Raman sideband cooling based on the Raman transitions between the vibrational manifolds of adjacent Zeeman substates. A static magnetic field is used to tune the Zeeman levels so that Raman resonance occurs on the red sideband and results in cooling. Two circularly polarized fields are used to recycle the atoms for repetitive Raman cooling. Unfortunately, a direct application of this scheme to frequency standards meets with several difficulties. Stimulated by these concepts and results, we propose a new variant of transverse sideband cooling, where these problems are avoided, while still maintaining most of the attractive features. The field configuration used for the optical lattice consists of three linearly polarized beams having equal amplitudes and propagating in the xy plane with angles of 2/spl pi//3 between each other. The polarization vectors of these beams are tilted through a small angle with respect to the z-axis. All the beams have the same frequency far-detuned to the red of the D/sub 2/ resonance line. Raman transitions between vibrational levels of adjacent magnetic substates are induced by the small in-plane component of the field. Two other important requirements for Raman sideband cooling are a uniform energy shift of the magnetic sublevels and optical pumping.
This dissertation reports on quantum state preparation of cesium atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice, by resolved-sideband Raman cooling. An optical lattice is a periodic potential produced by the light shift interaction between an atom and light field. Laser cooled atoms can become strongly localized about the bottom of potential wells in an optical lattice, where they occupy a discrete spectrum of bound vibrational energy levels. The distribution over vibrational levels of atoms in the lattice is characterized by the mean vibrational excitation, n . In an optical lattice, absorption and emission of photons from lattice beams causes n to increase in time. This source of heating is always present, but its rate can be greatly reduced in a lattice detuned far from the atomic resonance. Sideband cooling is an efficient means of transferring atoms from higher into lower-lying vibrational levels and, thus, it reduces n for the ensemble. If the sideband cooling rate is much greater than the heating rate, then n approaches zero and virtually all atoms are in the lowest vibrational level in their potential wells. Our sideband cooling scheme involves stimulated Raman transitions between bound states in the potential wells of a pair of magnetic sublevels, followed by optical pumping, for a net loss of one quantum of vibration per cooling cycle. The process accumulates 98% of atoms in the ground vibrational level of a potential well associated with a single Zeeman substate. Each atom in the lattice is then very close to a pure state. For two-dimensional lattice with sideband cooling we find nx≈ny≈0.008 &parl0;16&parr0; . Various issues related to state preparation and sideband cooling are also discussed in the context of a one dimensional lin ⊥ lin optical lattice. These include improvement of laser cooling in a near resonance lattice by application of weak magnetic fields, transfer of atoms from near into far off-resonance lattices, and heating rates in far off-resonance lattices.
A complete laser cooling setup was built, with focus on threedimensional near-resonant optical lattices for cesium. These consist of regularly ordered micropotentials, created by the interference of four laser beams. One key feature of optical lattices is an inherent ”Sisyphus cooling” process. It efficiently extracts kinetic energy from the atoms, leading to equilibrium temperatures of a few µK. The corresponding kinetic energy is lower than the depth of the potential wells, so that atoms can be trapped.We performed detailed studies of the cooling processes in optical lattices by using the time-of-flight and absorption-imaging techniques. We investigated the dependence of the equilibrium temperature on the optical lattice parameters, such as detuning, optical potential and lattice geometry. The presence of neighbouring transitions in the cesium hyperfine level structure was used to break symmetries in order to identify, which role “red” and “blue” transitions play in the cooling. We also examined the limits for the cooling process in optical lattices, and the possible difference in steady-state velocity distributions for different directions. Moreover, in collaboration with ´Ecole Normale Sup´erieure in Paris, numerical simulations were performed in order to get more insight in the cooling dynamics of optical lattices.Optical lattices can keep atoms almost perfectly isolated from the environment and have therefore been suggested as a platform for a host of possible experiments aimed at coherent quantum manipulations, such as spin-squeezing and the implementation of quantum logic-gates. We developed a novel way to trap two different cesium ground states in two distinct, interpenetrating optical lattices, and to change the distance between sites of one lattice relative to sites of the other lattice. This is a first step towards the implementation of quantum simulation schemes in optical lattices.
In this thesis, I study optical pumping as a powerful cooling tool for trapped ultra-cold atoms in a highly collisional regime. First application of optical pumping is a continuous loading scheme used to transfer atoms from a guided beam into a hybrid trap. Further, I introduce a Sisyphus cooling scheme based on radio-frequency transitions and optical pumping, operating simultaneously to the accumulation of atoms in the trap. The combined scheme of continuous loading and Sisyphus cooling is demonstrated for a large range of initial conditions of the guided atoms. Thereby, I show that collisional thermalization occurs in a steady-state for almost arbitrary initial conditions, provided that the first dissipative step is able to prevent the atom from leaving the trap during its first passage. On the one hand, this scheme could be applied to a wide range of atomic or molecular beams. On the other hand, phase-space density of 4*10^-4 is reached in a continuous operation mode with chromium atoms. In the second part, I investigate demagnetization cooling based on dipolar relaxation collisions driving the thermalization of the internal (spin) and the external (motional) degrees of freedom. In the case of a gas, one has the advantage that the spin degree of freedom can be cooled very efficiently using optical pumping. It is shown, that demagnetization cooling of a gas is more efficient than evaporation cooling in terms of phase-space density gain versus loss of atoms. This allows reaching a temperature of 6uK at a phase-space density of 0.03. It is observed, that both, continuous Sisyphus cooling and demagnetization cooling are limited by a density dependent loss mechanism. I present circumstantial evidence for excited-state collisions as the dominant limiting process. Finally, I discuss possible extensions to the current experimental procedures, possibly allowing reaching quantum degeneracy by optical means only.
A complete laser cooling setup was built, with focus on threedimensional near-resonant optical lattices for cesium. These consist of regularly ordered micropotentials, created by the interference of four laser beams. One key feature of optical lattices is an inherent ”Sisyphus cooling” process. It efficiently extracts kinetic energy from the atoms, leading to equilibrium temperatures of a few µK. The corresponding kinetic energy is lower than the depth of the potential wells, so that atoms can be trapped. We performed detailed studies of the cooling processes in optical lattices by using the time-of-flight and absorption-imaging techniques. We investigated the dependence of the equilibrium temperature on the optical lattice parameters, such as detuning, optical potential and lattice geometry. The presence of neighbouring transitions in the cesium hyperfine level structure was used to break symmetries in order to identify, which role “red” and “blue” transitions play in the cooling. We also examined the limits for the cooling process in optical lattices, and the possible difference in steady-state velocity distributions for different directions. Moreover, in collaboration with ´Ecole Normale Sup´erieure in Paris, numerical simulations were performed in order to get more insight in the cooling dynamics of optical lattices. Optical lattices can keep atoms almost perfectly isolated from the environment and have therefore been suggested as a platform for a host of possible experiments aimed at coherent quantum manipulations, such as spin-squeezing and the implementation of quantum logic-gates. We developed a novel way to trap two different cesium ground states in two distinct, interpenetrating optical lattices, and to change the distance between sites of one lattice relative to sites of the other lattice. This is a first step towards the implementation of quantum simulation schemes in optical lattices.
We demonstrate the effect of Zeeman and hyperfine optical pumping and transverse laser cooling of a dysprosium (Dy) atomic beam on the 4 f 10 6 s 2 ( J = 8 ) → 4 f 10 6 s 6 p ( J = 9 ) transition at 421.291 nm. For Dy 163 , a custom-built electro-optic modulator is used to generate five frequency sidebands required to pump the atoms to the F = 10.5 ground-state hyperfine level, and the light polarization is chosen to pump the atoms to the m F = 10.5 Zeeman sublevel. The atoms are simultaneously laser cooled using a standing wave orthogonal to the atomic beam. The resulting polarized and cooled atomic beam will be used in fundamental physics experiments taking advantage of the “accidental” degeneracy of excited states in Dy, including the ongoing measurement of parity violation in this system.