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AIP conference proceedings

Experiments with Atomic Hydrogen in Magnetostatic Traps

Irwan D. Setija, O.J. Luiten, M. W. Reynolds, H. G. C. Werij, Tom W. Hijmans, Jook T. M. Walraven, D. J. Wineland, Carl Wieman, Stuart James Smith

Published Jan 1, 1994• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Atomic hydrogen is an important model system for the investigation of the properties of ultra‐cold gases. We summarize the current experimental situation for magnetically confined hydrogen, putting emphasis on recent optical experiments with Lyman‐α radiation. As the research is aimed at gas‐phase properties, the samples are studied at densities where interatomic collisions are frequent and internal thermal equilibrium may be assumed. Interestingly, although optically thick, the samples still may be cooled with light. We discuss both Doppler cooling and light induced evaporative cooling.

DOI
10.1063/1.2946018

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Atomic hydrogen is an important model system for the investigation of the properties of ultra‐cold gases. We summarize the current experimental situation for magnetically confined hydrogen, putting emphasis on recent optical experiments with Lyman‐α radiation. As the research is aimed at gas‐phase properties, the samples are studied at densities where interatomic collisions are frequent and internal thermal equilibrium may be assumed. Interestingly, although optically thick, the samples still may be cooled with light. We discuss both Doppler cooling and light induced evaporative cooling.
This chapter begins with an introductory summary of basic properties of spin-polarised hydrogen. It discusses the properties of atomic quantum gases at ultra-low temperatures with atomic hydrogen as a primary example. Building on the extensive experience of various research groups with the low temperature gas phase of atomic hydrogen, many interesting aspects could be illustrated with well established experimental and theoretical results. As for many traps the single-particle motion is non-ergodic, interatomic collisions are usually essential to assure ‘sufficient ergodicity’. The chapter also discusses a number of thermodynamic properties relevant for the description of evaporative cooling using the truncated exponential energy distribution as a starting point. It considers the case of plain evaporative cooling. In forced evaporative cooling the escape threshold is lowered with decreasing temperature, thus allowing the evaporation to proceed at a desired rate.
Atomic hydrogen has been loaded into a 1-K deep magnetic trap through the use of a dilution refrigerator. Evaporative cooling has been used to cool the trapped hydrogen into the submillikelvin temperature regime. These techniques have produced a sample with density of 8 × 1013 cm-3 at a temperature of 100 μK. At this density a transition to a Bose-Einstein condensate is predicted to occur at a temperature of 30 μK. These results have been obtained with a magnetic trap that has been constructed to accommodate upcoming experiments based on laser spectroscopy of the 1S-2S two photon transition in the trapped hydrogen. A frequency doubled narrow linewidth cw dye laser system has been constructed to excite the 1S-2S transition. The excitation will be detected by the observation of electric field-induced Lyman-alpha fluorescence. The optical detection system should yield improved sample density and temperature diagnostic capabilities that will facilitate a closer approach to the quantum degenerate regime. Additionally the cold, confined hydrogen gas offers the possibility of improving the level of resolution of Doppler-free hydrogen 1S-2S laser spectroscopy by several orders of magnitude.
We propose experiments with atomic hydrogen gas at ultra-low temperatures T < 100 μ K when the thermal energy of atoms is comparable with the changes of their potential energy in the Earth gravity field. At these conditions we suggest implementing a gravitational spectroscopy for studies of quantum properties of ultra-cold atomic hydrogen and its interactions with matter and gravity, similar to experiments with ultra-cold neutrons (Nesvizhevsky et al. Nature 415 , 297 2002 ). A magnetic trap used for reaching the Bose-Einstein Condensation (Fried et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 , 3811 1998 ) can be used for cooling a large number of H atoms below 1 mK. Evaporative cooling over the trap barrier allows effective cooling of the vertical degree of freedom of the trapped atoms. Releasing these ultra-slow atoms from the trap onto the cold surface of superfluid helium will allow studies of quantum bounces and stationary gravitational states of H atoms in the potential well created by this surface and the field of Earth gravity. Experimental study of properties of gravitational quantum states of hydrogen and quantum reflection of ultracold hydrogen from surface would be of major importance for designing similar experiments with antihydrogen, which are currently prepared in CERN.