We report on a compact and transportable apparatus that consists of a cold atomic target at the center of a high resolution recoil ion momentum spectrometer. Cold rubidium atoms serve as a target which can be operated in three different modes: in continuous mode, consisting of a cold atom beam generated by a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap, in normal mode in which the atoms from the beam are trapped in a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT), and in high density mode in which the 3D MOT is operated in dark spontaneous optical trap configuration. The targets are characterized using photoionization.
We report on a compact and transportable apparatus that consists of a cold atomic target at the center of a high resolution recoil ion momentum spectrometer. Cold rubidium atoms serve as a target which can be operated in three different modes: in continuous mode, consisting of a cold atom beam generated by a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap, in normal mode in which the atoms from the beam are trapped in a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT), and in high density mode in which the 3D MOT is operated in dark spontaneous optical trap configuration. The targets are characterized using photoionization.
We study photoionization of cold rubidium atoms in a strong infrared laser field using a magneto-optical trap (MOT) recoil ion momentum spectrometer. Three types of cold rubidium target are provided, operating in two-dimension (2D) MOT, 2D molasses, and 3D MOT with densities in the orders of 107 atoms/cm3, 108 atoms/cm3, and 109 atoms/cm3, respectively. The density profile and the temperature of 3D MOT are characterized using the absorption imaging and photoionization. The momentum distributions of Rb+ created by absorption of two- or three-photon illuminate a dipole-like double-peak structure, in good agreement with the results in the strong field approximation. The yielding momentum resolution of 0.12±0.03 a.u. is achieved in comparison with theoretical calculations, exhibiting the great prospects for the study of electron correlations in alkali metal atoms through interaction with strong laser pulses.
A new magneto-optical trap-target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy apparatus has been built and tested at the LPC-CAEN. Dedicated to ion-atom collisions studies and excited fraction measurements, the setup combines a projectile ion beam line, a target of cold rubidium atoms provided by a magneto-optical trap (MOT), and a recoil ion momentum spectrometer. In a test experiment using a beam of Na(+) projectiles, we demonstrate its capability to measure, with a very high signal over background ratio, fully differential cross sections in scattering angle, initial state, and final state of the system. We detail, in this work, features that had not been described previously in the literature: an extraction of the recoil ions transverse to the ion beam axis, and a fast switch for the MOT magnetic field. Advantages of transverse versus longitudinal extraction are discussed, and future possibilities for the setup are presented.
In this thesis an ultracold high density target with high loading flux in combination with a recoil ion momentum spectrometer (RIMS) is presented. Trapped rubidium atoms serve as a high density target (up to 10¹¹ atoms/cm³) at a temperature of only 200 µK. The target is loaded from a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D MOT), which delivers an atom beam with a brilliance of 8 x 10¹² atoms/(s*rad) and a longitudinal momentum spread of 0.25 a.u.. The great advantage of this source is that the cold atom beam can be used as a target itself. The experimental setup, including the RIMS and the targets, are characterized using one-color two-photon ionization experiments. After the successful commissioning presented in this thesis the experiment is ready to be connected to the HITRAP beamline at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, where multiple charge transfer between ultracold atoms and highly charged ions up to bare uranium can be investigated. In a different experimental setup, in collaboration with the KVI in Groningen, the Netherlands, first experiments on the energy dependence of double charge transfer in alkali-ion collisions are preformed. Using RIMS, two distinct double capture mechanisms, sequential transfer and correlated transfer, are identified and the respective differential cross sections are determined. The effective interaction time of the collision is varied by changing the projectile's velocity. At short interaction times the sequential transfer is dominant, while at longer interaction times the correlated transfer becomes more important.
A compact cold atom beam source based on a multistage two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) has been demonstrated and characterized. The multiple-stage design greatly reduces the overall size of the source apparatus while providing a high flux of atoms. The cold atom beam was used to load a separate MOT in ultrahigh vacuum, and we obtained an actual trap loading rate of 1.5 x 109 atoms/s while using only 20 mW of total laser power for the source. The entire source apparatus, including optics, can fit into a 4 cm x 4 cm x 13 cm volume.
A novel apparatus has been developed in which atoms in a magneto-optical trap are used as targets in ion-atom collision experiments. The apparatus is an extension of earlier methodology in which the momentum of the recoiling target is measured and used to deduce the collision Q value and projectile scattering angle. In the present work, the low temperature of the target atoms yields increased momentum resolution, which in turn leads to improved Q value and scattering angle resolution. In addition, because the trapping process leaves some fraction of the atoms in an excited state, the new methodology is ideal for the study of collisions with excited targets. The prototypical system presented is low energy charge transfer between singly charged alkali ions and trapped rubidium atoms in the ground and first excited state.
We developed a magneto-optical trap reaction microscope (MOTREMI) for strontium atoms by combining multiparticle coincident detection with the laser cooling technique. The present compact injection system enables the production of cold Sr atoms in three modes of two-dimensional (2D) magneto-optical trap (MOT) beam, molasses, and three-dimensional (3D) MOT, providing adjustable densities and ratios of the ground state 5s2 (1S0) and the excited states 5s5p1P1 and 3PJ. The target profiles including temperature, density, and size of the 3D MOT as well as the 2D MOT beam cold atomic flux were characterized in detail. Using the present setup, we investigate the single photoionization of Sr atoms with molasses through few-photons absorption in 800 nm, where Sr+ and ${e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ are detected in coincidence and most of the ionization channels are identified. The momentum resolution for coincident Sr+ and ${e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ along time-of-flight direction are achieved up to 0.12 a.u. and 0.02 a.u., respectively. The spectra of photoelectron ionized from the ground state as well as several excited states show distinct structures manifesting prominent contributions from multiphoton absorption. Detecting complete vector momenta of electrons and recoil ions in coincidence paves a way for further investigation of two-electron correlation dynamics and multielectron effects with alkaline-earth atoms.