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Physical Review A

Loading an optical dipole trap

S. J. M. Kuppens, Kristan L. Corwin, Kurt W. Miller, T. E. Chupp, Carl Wieman

Published Jun 13, 2000• 185 citations

Abstract

We present a detailed experimental study of the physics involved in transferring atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to an optical dipole trap. The loading is a dynamical process determined by a loading rate and a density dependent loss rate. The loading rate depends on cooling and the flux of atoms into the trapping volume, and the loss rate is due to excited state collisions induced by the MOT light fields. From this study we found ways to optimize the loading of the optical dipole trap. Key ingredients for maximum loading are found to be a reduction of the hyperfine repump intensity, increased detuning of the MOT light, and a displacement of the optical dipole trap center with respect to the MOT. A factor of 2 increase in the number of loaded atoms is demonstrated by using a hyperfine repump beam with a shadow in it. In this way we load $8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into a 1 mK deep optical dipole trap with a waist of $58 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m},$ which is 40% of the atoms initially trapped in the MOT.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.62.013406

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Loading characteristics of a microscopic optical dipole trap

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We report on an investigation of loading characteristics of deep microscopic dipole traps. The dipole trap is loaded from a low density magneto optical trap (MOT) containing $\approx 5\times 10^{6}$ atoms. We determine the loading parameters that maximize the trapped atom number for a trap of waist 5 μm with trap depths ranging from 3.5 mK to 10 mK. We determine the optimal trap loading conditions and the loading rates, loss coefficients and temperature of the trapped atoms under these conditions. We show that it is possible to load a few hundred to thousand atoms in dipole traps of depth 3.5 mK to 8.5 mK under the optimal loading conditions.

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Influence of optical molasses in loading a shallow optical trap

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We have examined loading of $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into a shallow far-off-resonance trap (FORT) from an optical molasses stage following a magneto-optical trap (MOT) stage and compared it to loading from a MOT stage only. Substantially more atoms could be loaded into the FORT using an optical molasses. To determine why this was the case, we measured the rate of atoms loaded into the FORT and the losses from the FORT during both loading processes over a range of detunings and hyperfine pump powers. We found that the losses induced during MOT loading were essentially the same as the losses induced during molasses loading and decreased with increased red detuning; however, we found that the differences in load rate caused an optical molasses to optimize at a greater detuning, improving the number of atoms we could trap by a factor of 2 over that of optimal loading from a MOT.

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Abstract We study the cold collisions of mixed atoms in an optical dipole trap (ODT), which are loaded from a dark magneto-optical trap (MOT). A comprehensive, phenomenological rate equation is presented to derive the ultracold homonuclear and heteronuclear collision rates in loading and holding procedures. Our results show that the cold atoms in the dark MOT can provide a much better stable, initial atomic sample than MOT. The dependence of the heteronuclear collision rate on the trap depth is attributed to the hyperfine-changing collision by the ODT laser with a broad linewidth. The processes of deriving the collision rate are also universal for other kinds of atoms or even molecules.

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Beating the density limit by continuously loading a dipole trap from millikelvin-hot magnesium atoms

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We load ${10}^{5}$ magnesium atoms in a dipole trap from a millikelvin-hot magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a continuous-loading scheme. Light-assisted two-body processes limit the maximum achievable density in a MOT, resulting in a reduced transfer efficiency into a dipole trap when using the conventional sequential scheme. It is overcome in a continuous-loading scheme where a loss channel is opened in the MOT. This allows the accumulation of atoms in the dipole trap over the trap lifetime, determined by collisions with the background gas. This results in a significantly higher number of trapped atoms even at a lower steady-state peak density in the MOT.

Physical Review A•Oct 10, 2012•38 citations

We present a detailed experimental study of the physics involved in transferring atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to an optical dipole trap. The loading is a dynamical process determined by a loading rate and a density dependent loss rate. The loading rate depends on cooling and the flux of atoms into the trapping volume, and the loss rate is due to excited state collisions induced by the MOT light fields. From this study we found ways to optimize the loading of the optical dipole trap. Key ingredients for maximum loading are found to be a reduction of the hyperfine repump intensity, increased detuning of the MOT light, and a displacement of the optical dipole trap center with respect to the MOT. A factor of 2 increase in the number of loaded atoms is demonstrated by using a hyperfine repump beam with a shadow in it. In this way we load

8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}

atoms into a 1 mK deep optical dipole trap with a waist of

58 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m},

which is 40% of the atoms initially trapped in the MOT.

We report on an investigation of loading characteristics of deep microscopic dipole traps. The dipole trap is loaded from a low density magneto optical trap (MOT) containing

\approx 5\times 10^{6}

atoms. We determine the loading parameters that maximize the trapped atom number for a trap of waist 5 μm with trap depths ranging from 3.5 mK to 10 mK. We determine the optimal trap loading conditions and the loading rates, loss coefficients and temperature of the trapped atoms under these conditions. We show that it is possible to load a few hundred to thousand atoms in dipole traps of depth 3.5 mK to 8.5 mK under the optimal loading conditions.

We have examined loading of

^{85}\mathrm{Rb}

atoms into a shallow far-off-resonance trap (FORT) from an optical molasses stage following a magneto-optical trap (MOT) stage and compared it to loading from a MOT stage only. Substantially more atoms could be loaded into the FORT using an optical molasses. To determine why this was the case, we measured the rate of atoms loaded into the FORT and the losses from the FORT during both loading processes over a range of detunings and hyperfine pump powers. We found that the losses induced during MOT loading were essentially the same as the losses induced during molasses loading and decreased with increased red detuning; however, we found that the differences in load rate caused an optical molasses to optimize at a greater detuning, improving the number of atoms we could trap by a factor of 2 over that of optimal loading from a MOT.

Here, we present our studies on intra-trap dynamics of an optical dipole trap (ODT) loaded from a Magneto-optical trap (MOT) of

^{87}

Rb atoms. A spatio-temporal Monte Carlo (MC) simulation approach has been employed in conjunction with the semi-classical theory based calculations for estimation of various intra-trap two-body loss parameters in the ODT. The temporal MC method based on estimated parameters from spatial MC, gives a close estimation of the experimentally observed atom-number evolution in ODT. We also find that, the decay rate of atoms in an ODT is dominated by momentum-transfer elastic collisions in the absence of MOT beams. However, in presence of MOT beams, the radiative escape process is the dominant two-body loss mechanism in the trap, which surpasses the fine-structure changing and hyperfine changing collisional losses by nearly an order of magnitude.

In this work, we have applied sub-Doppler laser cooling to a 39 K magneto-optical trap in order to load a 1071 nm crossed optical dipole trap. The number of atoms loaded into the dipole trap was characterized as a function of the frequency and intensity of the cooling and repump laser beams. For the optimum conditions, the dipole trap has about 2 × 10 6 atoms at an atomic density of 2 × 10 12 cm −3 , with a temperature of about 10 µK. This technique is a very simple procedure to load a 39 K optical dipole trap without a previous magnetic evaporative cooling step and may find application in other atomic physic systems.

Abstract We study the cold collisions of mixed atoms in an optical dipole trap (ODT), which are loaded from a dark magneto-optical trap (MOT). A comprehensive, phenomenological rate equation is presented to derive the ultracold homonuclear and heteronuclear collision rates in loading and holding procedures. Our results show that the cold atoms in the dark MOT can provide a much better stable, initial atomic sample than MOT. The dependence of the heteronuclear collision rate on the trap depth is attributed to the hyperfine-changing collision by the ODT laser with a broad linewidth. The processes of deriving the collision rate are also universal for other kinds of atoms or even molecules.

We load

{10}^{5}

magnesium atoms in a dipole trap from a millikelvin-hot magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a continuous-loading scheme. Light-assisted two-body processes limit the maximum achievable density in a MOT, resulting in a reduced transfer efficiency into a dipole trap when using the conventional sequential scheme. It is overcome in a continuous-loading scheme where a loss channel is opened in the MOT. This allows the accumulation of atoms in the dipole trap over the trap lifetime, determined by collisions with the background gas. This results in a significantly higher number of trapped atoms even at a lower steady-state peak density in the MOT.