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Journal of Modern Optics

Realization of a mirror magneto-optical trap

M. A. Clifford, Gavin P. T. Lancaster, R.H. Mitchell, F. Akerboom, Kishan Dholakia

Published May 1, 2001• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present details for construction and the operation of a mirror magneto-optical trap for cooling and trapping rubidium atoms. For trap operation, only four input laser beams are needed in contrast to the normal six for a standard trap. In excess of 108 atoms have been trapped with this arrangement, with the atomic ensemble only ∼1mm from the surface of a reflective mirror. This trap is highly suited to studies of magnetic guiding and magnetic manipulation of cold atomic ensembles.

DOI
10.1080/09500340010023409

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Physical Review A•Aug 18, 2006•63 citations
We present details for construction and the operation of a mirror magneto-optical trap for cooling and trapping rubidium atoms. For trap operation, only four input laser beams are needed in contrast to the normal six for a standard trap. In excess of 108 atoms have been trapped with this arrangement, with the atomic ensemble only ∼1mm from the surface of a reflective mirror. This trap is highly suited to studies of magnetic guiding and magnetic manipulation of cold atomic ensembles.
We present a novel and simple vapour-cell magneto-optical atom trap in a pyramidal and a conical hollow mirror cavity. A single laser beam having modulation sidebands at microwaves is used for cooling, trapping and repumping of rubidium atoms. When the laser is circularly polarized and sent into the hollow region, three pairs of counterpropagating beams are automatically produced therein, having the same polarization configuration as in the conventional six beam magneto-optical trap. The precooled atom sources thus produced may be used to obtain much colder and denser atoms for study of their quantum statistical properties.
We present a novel and simple magneto-optical trap in pyramidal and in conical hollow mirrors, using a single beam. A diode laser having modulation sidebands at microwaves is used for cooling, trapping, and repumping of rubidium atoms in a vapor cell. When the laser is circularly polarized and sent into the hollow region, three pairs of counterpropagating beams are automatically produced therein that have the same polarization configuration as that of a conventional six-beam magneto-optical trap. The fluorescence by the trapped atoms and its mirror image are observed simultaneously. This system may be useful for atom-manipulation applications such as gravitational atom traps and atom waveguides.
We have demonstrated that cold atoms can be retroflected from a ferromagnetic surface by the Stern-Gerlach effect. When the surface is magnetized periodically, the reflectivity for suitably polarized atoms is $(94\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}8)%$ and the reflection is specular. A demagnetized surface is also highly reflecting but the reflections are diffuse. These magnetic processes are of interest for atom optics because they permit the manipulation of cold atoms without the use of laser beams. In our experiments, Rb atoms released from a magneto-optic trap (MOT) fall under gravity until they are reflected, after which they are recaptured in the MOT. Multiple bounces of these atoms have been studied for times up to 600 ms.
In this Master's thesis a Pyramidal Magneto-Optical Trap for rubidium has been designed.The trap is intended to be used in Atomic Physics courses for demonstration and laboratory exercises.The theory for cooling and trapping 85 Rb and 87 Rb is developed.A detailed design of a low-cost and robust MOT is presented.Two frequency locked laser systems have been built.Most of the components necessary to build the MOT have been identified, borrowed or purchased.The mechanical support to hold a pyramidal mirror has also been realized.The report discusses how to complete the construction of the MOT.
A Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) for 87Rb^{87}Rb87Rb atoms near the surface of a dielectric coated mirror at the top of a small 20×25×40  mm320{\times}25{\times}40\;mm^320×25×40mm3 cell has been observed. Two beams of 3.3  mW/cm23.3\;mW/cm^23.3mW/cm2 were used for optical cooling and an anti-Helmholtz magnetic field with a spatial gradient of 9.1 G/cm was used for magnetic trapping. The thickness of the mirror coated on a cover glass was less than 100μm100{\mu}m100μm . The mirror covered the top of a cell and the atom-chip was located outside the vacuum in order to exploit the long life time of the mirror and easy operation of the chip. The trapping position was found 5 mm beneath the mirror surface. The number of trapped atoms was roughly 3×1073{\times}10^73×107 atoms and the temperature was approximately a few tens mK. In this paper, we describe the construction of the mirror-MOT in detail.
We discuss the implementation and characterization of the source of a slow, intense, and collimated beam of rubidium atoms. The cold atomic beam is produced by two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping in directions transverse to the atomic beam axis and unbalanced Doppler cooling in the axial direction. The vacuum design allows use of relatively low laser power and a considerably simplified assembly. The atomic beam has a high flux of about $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}∕\mathrm{s}$ at a total cooling laser power of 55mW55\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mW}55mW. It has a narrow longitudinal velocity distribution with mean velocity 15m∕s15\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}15m∕s with full width at half maximum 3.5m∕s3.5\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}3.5m∕s and has a low divergence of 26mrad26\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mrad}26mrad. The high flux enables ultrafast loading of about 1010{10}^{10}1010 atoms into a three-dimensional (3D) magneto-optical trap within 500 ms. The variation of the atomic beam flux was studied as a function of the rubidium vapor pressure, cooling laser power, transverse cooling laser beam length, detuning of the cooling laser, and relative intensities of the cooling beams along the atomic beam axis. We also discuss a detailed comparison of our measurements of the cold atomic beam with a 3D numerical simulation.