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Physica Scripta

Laser cooling of rubidium atoms in a vapor cell

H. Ludvigsen, A. Äijälä, A. Pietiläinen, Hannu Talvitie, Erkki Ikonen

Published Apr 1, 1994• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have constructed a simplified setup for the demonstration of laser cooling and trapping of rubidium atoms. An external-cavity diode laser was swept across the F = 3 → F' = 2, 3, 4 resonances of the D 2 -line of 85 Rb at 780 nm to resolve the saturated absorption features. Subsequently, the transition F = 3 → F' = 4 was used to cool rubidium atoms in a roomtemperature vapor cell. A cold cloud of trapped atoms with a diameter of approximately 1 mm was produced. The lifetime of the trap was measured to be 1 second.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/49/4/007

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We have constructed a simplified setup for the demonstration of laser cooling and trapping of rubidium atoms. An external-cavity diode laser was swept across the F = 3 → F' = 2, 3, 4 resonances of the D 2 -line of 85 Rb at 780 nm to resolve the saturated absorption features. Subsequently, the transition F = 3 → F' = 4 was used to cool rubidium atoms in a roomtemperature vapor cell. A cold cloud of trapped atoms with a diameter of approximately 1 mm was produced. The lifetime of the trap was measured to be 1 second.
In the presented study a diode laser was characterised and used for spec- troscopy, measuring the resonance lines of atomic rubidium. The characteristics of diode lasers and external cavity diode lasers (ECDL) for the purposes of ab- sorption spectroscopy were investigated and an experimental setup for tunable diode laser spectroscopy using an ECDL was developed. In external cavity diode lasers, the advantages of low cost, small size and e ciency of a diode laser is combined with tunability and a narrow frequency bandwidth. The ECDL was applied in experimental setups for absorption spectroscopy and saturated ab- sorption spectroscopy. Measurement of the absorption of atomic rubidium's D2 line near 780 nm is discussed. The Doppler broadened, as well as the Doppler free spectrum of the ne and hyper ne structure of the D2 line were measured and is discussed. Finer control of the ECDL's stability and frequency, using a servo circuit, were investigated and tested. An overview is given of laser cool- ing and trapping of neutral rubidium atoms, which is the main application the ECDL were developed for.
We present detailed instructions for the construction and operation of an inexpensive apparatus for laser cooling and trapping of rubidium atoms. This apparatus allows one to use the light from low power diode lasers to produce a magneto-optical trap in a low pressure vapor cell. We present a design which has reduced the cost to less than $3000 and does not require any machining or glassblowing skills in the construction. It has the additional virtues that the alignment of the trapping laser beams is very easy, and the rubidium pressure is conveniently and rapidly controlled. These features make the trap simple and reliable to operate, and the trapped atoms can be easily seen and studied. With a few milliwatts of laser power we are able to trap 4×107 atoms for 3.5 s in this apparatus. A step-by-step procedure is given for construction of the cell, setup of the optical system, and operation of the trap. A list of parts with prices and vendors is given in the Appendix.
The theory of cooling neutral atoms to microkelvin temperatures using a magneto optical trap will be presented. The system that is discussed uses a stabilized grating tuned diode laser that is controlled using feedback from a saturation absorption spectrophotometer to produce narrow band continuously tunable IR light for trapping rubidium atoms. A description of the design and construction of each of the components used to create the magneto optical trap will also be discussed. In the final section a description of an exceptionally accurate atomic clock that is used to measure the natural resonance frequency of laser cooled cesium atoms is also presented.
Laser cooling experiments developed in the last decade enable physicists to slow down and spatially confine neutral atoms of a gas, thus lowering the temperature of trapped atoms into the μK range. One of the challenges associated with laser cooling is to stabilize a laser so that its output frequency matches that of a hyperfine structure transition and has an absolute stability of several MHz. In this project, we establish the groundwork for future laser cooling experiments with Rb by performing saturated-absorption Doppler-free spectroscopy studies. We acquire Doppler-free spectra of Rb that resolve individual hyperfine structure transitions, including the transition that the laser must excite in laser cooling experiments. The spectra we obtained can readily be repeated and the experimental apparatus can provide the feedback for an electronic laser stabilization circuit.
For cold samples of laser-cooled atoms to be useful in emerging technologies such as compact atomic clocks and sensors, it is necessary to achieve small sample sizes while retaining a large number of cold atoms. Achieving large atom numbers in a small system is a major challenge for producing miniaturized laser-cooled atomic clocks, since the number of captured atoms in a vapor-cell magneto-optical trap (MOT) scales as the fourth power of the laser beam diameter. This strong dependence on size is fundamentally set by the maximum spontaneous light force ħkγ/2, where ħk is the photon momentum and γ/2 is the maximum spontaneous photon scatter rate of a saturated transition of linewidth γ. We are attempting to surmount the limit imposed by spontaneous emission by using bichromatic cooling - a technique that uses stimulated emission to slow the atoms. We have built a table-top experiment that uses stimulated-emission bichromatic cooling to pre-cool rubidium atoms and dramatically enhance the trappable atom number in a small MOT. The apparatus lets us test how bichromatic cooling scales with miniaturization. Here we report on our first experimental results of cooling a thermal beam of rubidium atoms down to MOT capture velocities.
We have produced a very cold sample of spin-polarized trapped atoms. The technique used dramatically simplifies the production of laser-cooled atoms. In this experiment, 1.8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}107{10}^{7}107 neutral cesium atoms were optically captured directly from a low-pressure vapor in a small glass cell. We then cooled the 1-mm3{\mathrm{mm}}^{3}mm3 cloud of trapped atoms and loaded it into a low-field magnetic trap in the same cell. The magnetically trapped atoms had an effective temperature as low as 1.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2 \ensuremath{\mu}K, which is the lowest kinetic temperature ever observed and far colder than any previous sample of trapped atoms.