Some experiments in atomic physics and optics

B. Sh. Perkal'skis, Виктор Лаврентьевич Ларин, A. A. Eliseev

C. I. Laidler, S. Eriksson

We show that nonlinear dynamics in diode lasers with optical injection leads to frequency tunable microwave sidebands which are suitable for atomic physics experiments. We demonstrate the applicability of the sidebands in an experiment where rubidium atoms are magneto-optically trapped with both the trap and the re-pump optical frequencies derived from one optically injected laser. We find linewidth narrowing in the optical spectrum of the injected laser at both the injection frequency and the sideband frequency. With strong optical injection which leads to frequency locking we find a complete linewidth transfer from the master to the slave. Further applications are discussed.

Alain Aspect, Denis Boiron, Christoph Ira Westbrook

Atom optics, a field which takes much inspiration from traditional optics, has advanced to the point that some of the fundamental experiments of quantum optics, involving photon correlations, have found atomic analogs. We discuss some recent experiments on atom bunching and anti-bunching as well as some prospects for extending them to the field of many body physics.

Oliver Gugenberger

The discovery of laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping was awarded with the 1997 Noble Price in physics. Since then quantum atom optics has become one of the most active research areas in experimental physics. In this thesis Oliver Gugenberger gives a vivid description of the operation principle of magneto-optical trapping and how it is possible to perform single atom experiments based on this method. He designed a special-magneto optical trap at the Vienna University of Technology which will be used in upcoming experiments to trap and entangle single Rubidium atoms as a possible realization of a quantum computer. The manuscript is divided into three parts: The first part summarizes the required theory, the middle part describes the scientific procedure and the last part explains the components which are needed to run such an experiment. All in all, the book gives a comprehensive introduction to quantum atom optics with a touch of mechanical. An animation of the experiment can be seen in YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edLEfWzimZI