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Chinese Physics Letters

Ultra-High Efficiency Magnetic Transport of 87 Rb Atoms in a Single Chamber Bose—Einstein Condensation Apparatus

Kui-Yi Gao, Xinyu Luo, Feng-Dong Jia, C. X. Yu, Feng Zhang, Jiaqi Yin, Lin Xu, Li You, Ruquan Wang

Published Jun 1, 2014• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the ultra-high efficiency transport of cold 87 Rb atoms using a moving magnetic quadrupole potential generated by three overlapping pairs of fixed coils. The transfer efficiency is better than 97%, which is the highest ever reported to our knowledge. The temperature increase due to heating is less than 10 when the initial cloud temperature is 110 μK. Our setup is similar to the magnetic transferring belt design [ Phys. Rev. A 63 (2001) 031401(R) ], although it is simpler because the push coil is not required. We use it to transport atoms away from a magneto-optical trap to very close to the wall of the glass cell, facilitating future experiments employing three-dimensional optical lattices, high resolution in-situ imaging, and magnetic Feshbach resonances.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/31/6/063701

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We report the ultra-high efficiency transport of cold 87 Rb atoms using a moving magnetic quadrupole potential generated by three overlapping pairs of fixed coils. The transfer efficiency is better than 97%, which is the highest ever reported to our knowledge. The temperature increase due to heating is less than 10 when the initial cloud temperature is 110 μK. Our setup is similar to the magnetic transferring belt design [ Phys. Rev. A 63 (2001) 031401(R) ], although it is simpler because the push coil is not required. We use it to transport atoms away from a magneto-optical trap to very close to the wall of the glass cell, facilitating future experiments employing three-dimensional optical lattices, high resolution in-situ imaging, and magnetic Feshbach resonances.
We report the transport of magnetically trapped cold atoms over a large distance. Atoms are captured in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and loaded into a magnetic quadrupole trap. The quadrupole potential is then moved over a distance of 33 cm into an ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) chamber using a chain of quadrupole coils. By running suitable currents through the quadrupole coil pairs the trapping geometry of the potential is maintained during the transport process, thus minimizing heating of the trapped atom cloud. Magnetically trapped 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms at an initial temperature of $T=125 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ were heated by less than $20 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ during the transport process, and up to 109{10}^{9}109 atoms were transferred into the UHV chamber. Due to the spatial separation of the final magnetic trap and the MOT we have been able to capture atoms in the MOT, while storing magnetically trapped atoms in the UHV chamber.
This thesis describes the design, construction and optimisation of a new apparatus to produce Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of 87Rb atoms. The main aim in building this system was to include a high resolution imaging system capable of resolving single atoms. Optical access for the imaging system was created by including a stage of atom transport in which the atoms are magnetically transferred ~50 cm from a magneto-optical trap (MOT), where they are initially collected, to a glass science cell where experiments are carried out and imaging takes place. Two magnetic transport schemes have been demonstrated, based on approaches first used in other laboratories. First, a scheme in which the atoms are transferred in a moving pair of magnetic trapping coils. Second, a hybrid scheme where the atoms are translated part of the distance in the moving coils, and the rest of the way by switching the current in a chain of fixed coils. This second scheme was designed to allow optical access for a high numerical aperture microscope objective to be placed immediately next to the science cell for high resolution imaging.The atoms were first collected in a large pyramid MOT which can be loaded with 3 × 10^9 atoms in a time of 20 s. Around half of these atoms – those in the |F = 1, mF = −1> magnetic substate – were then magnetically trapped prior to transport. The typical fraction of the trapped atoms transferred to the science cell was ~30% and ~18% for the moving coils and hybrid schemes respectively.Evaporative cooling was carried out on the atom cloud following transport with the moving coils and loading into a time-orbiting potential trap. The optimised cooling sequence lasted for 28 s and consistently produced a pure condensate with 5 × 10^5 atoms. A BEC has also been produced by evaporative cooling following hybrid transport. The next experimental steps will be to optimise the hybrid transfer approach further and install the high resolution imaging system.The system is well-placed to continue an ongoing series of experiments in which ultracold atoms are trapped in RF-dressed potentials. These potentials will be used to study low-dimensional quantum gases as well as in experiments where small atom number BECs are rapidly rotated to enter the fractional quantum Hall regime.
We describe a versatile and simple scheme for producing magnetically and optically trapped 87 Rb Bose–Einstein condensates, based on a moving-coil transporter apparatus. The apparatus features a TOP trap that incorporates the movable quadrupole coils used for magneto-optical trapping and long-distance magnetic transport of atomic clouds. As a stand-alone device, this trap allows for the stable production of condensates containing up to one million atoms. In combination with an optical dipole trap, the TOP trap acts as a funnel for efficient loading, after which the quadrupole coils can be retracted, thereby maximizing optical access. The robustness of this scheme is illustrated by realizing the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition in a three-dimensional optical lattice.
With a movable quadrupole magnetic trap (QMT) generated by two pairs of partly-overlapped magneto-optical trap (MOT) and transfer coils, a highly efficient transport of cold87Rb atoms to the atom chip surface is realized. By the QMT movable means of linearly increasing the current in the transfer coils but simultaneously keeping the current in the MOT coils constant, the velocity profile of the moving trap is Blackman-type-like. With this QMT movable scheme, the cold atoms are transferred to the atom chip surface from the MOT center. In the transfer process, the cold atom temperature is increased by about 30 μK, and the transfer efficiency is above 90%. This system provides an appropriate cold atoms source for the atom chip interferometer and also can be used to investigate the interaction between atom and chip surface. ? 2016, Chinese Lasers Press. All right reserved.
We consider the problem of transferring a cold atomic cloud from a low-vacuum chamber to an ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) chamber, where it can be recaptured and cooled to the transition temperature for Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC). Our calculation assumes an initial Maxwell–Boltzmann velocity distribution for the thermal cloud and a Gaussian spatial density distribution that is characteristic of magneto-optical traps (MOTs). Using a coordinate transformation we find the density of the recaptured atomic cloud as a function of time. This allows us to investigate the effect of experimental parameters on the transfer efficiency. These parameters include the distance of separation between the two chambers, the duration of the initial on-resonant laser used to push the thermal cloud, and the initial cloud temperature. We also present numerical simulations of the magnetic field due to a simplified Ioffe–Pritchard (IP) trap that has recently been used to obtain BEC using laser-cooling techniques. This trap converts a quadrupole magnetic field into an IP configuration using the magnetic field of a conical solenoid placed orthogonally to the axis of symmetry of a pair of quadrupole coils. Our results are suitable for small experimental groups interested in achieving BEC. PACS No.: 03.75
We present an apparatus designed for studies of atom-surface interactions using quantum degenerate gases of (85)Rb and (87)Rb in the vicinity of a room temperature dielectric surface. The surface to be investigated is a super-polished face of a glass Dove prism mounted in a glass cell under ultra-high vacuum. To maintain excellent optical access to the region surrounding the surface, magnetic transport is used to deliver ultracold atoms from a separate vacuum chamber housing the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We present a detailed description of the vacuum apparatus highlighting the novel design features; a low profile MOT chamber and the inclusion of an obstacle in the transport path. We report the characterization and optimization of the magnetic transport around the obstacle, achieving transport efficiencies of 70% with negligible heating. Finally, we demonstrate the loading of a hybrid optical-magnetic trap with (87)Rb and the creation of Bose-Einstein condensates via forced evaporative cooling close to the dielectric surface.