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European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC)

Microscopic atom traps on an evanescent-wave mirror

Andriy Shevchenko, A. Jaakkola, Antti Hakola, M. Kaivola, T. Lindvall, Ilkka Juhani Tittonen

Published Jan 1, 2003• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An alternative technique is proposed to create microscopic atom traps loaded with atoms from a gravito-optical surface trap (GOT), which is composed of an evanescent-wave mirror and a vertically aligned hollow laser beam. Our trap design is based on the use of current-carrying transparent conductors and transparent permanent magnets fabricated on the surface of a glass prism in the form of an internal structure of a refractive-index-matched thin dielectric film. The conductors can be fabricated of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the magnets of yttrium iron garnet (YIG). Different kinds of traps may be envisaged: i) spin-independent electro-optical ii) magneto-optical for either high- or low-field seeking atoms, and iii) purely magnetic for atoms in the low-field seeking states. In case iii), the magnetic-field minimum is located far enough from the film surface to make the contribution of the optical field negligible.

DOI
10.1109/eqec.2003.1314165

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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference•Nov 13, 2002•1 citation
An alternative technique is proposed to create microscopic atom traps loaded with atoms from a gravito-optical surface trap (GOT), which is composed of an evanescent-wave mirror and a vertically aligned hollow laser beam. Our trap design is based on the use of current-carrying transparent conductors and transparent permanent magnets fabricated on the surface of a glass prism in the form of an internal structure of a refractive-index-matched thin dielectric film. The conductors can be fabricated of indium tin oxide (ITO) and the magnets of yttrium iron garnet (YIG). Different kinds of traps may be envisaged: i) spin-independent electro-optical ii) magneto-optical for either high- or low-field seeking atoms, and iii) purely magnetic for atoms in the low-field seeking states. In case iii), the magnetic-field minimum is located far enough from the film surface to make the contribution of the optical field negligible.
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We discuss our recent experimental demonstrations of three novel atom traps which are all based on the optical dipole force in far-detuned laser light. In the gravito-optical surface trap (GOST), Cs atoms are trapped and cooled by means of an evanescent-wave mirror very closely above a dielectric surface. This trap allows for optical cooling at very high densities and provides good starting conditions for evaporative cooling to quantum degeneracy and the realization of a 2D quantum gas. The conical atom trap (CAT) uses a hollow blue-detuned laser beam in combination with gravity to trap atoms in a dark spatial region. This trap is experimentally simple and provides high loading efficiency, tight confinement, efficient sub-Doppler cooling, and strong suppression of collisional losses. The standing-wave red-detuned (STAR) trap allows one to confine atoms in a shallow optical potential at a very low photon scattering rate, and is thus an interesting tool for studies of the atomic ground-state dynamics in external electro-magnetic fields. We have studied atomic spin polarization in this trap.
We describe experiments on the trapping of atoms in microscopic magneto-optical traps on an optically transparent permanent-magnet atom chip. The chip is made of magnetically hard ferrite-garnet material deposited on a dielectric substrate. The confining magnetic fields are produced by miniature magnetized patterns recorded in the film by magneto-optical techniques. We trap Rb atoms on these structures by applying three crossed pairs of counterpropagating laser beams in the conventional magneto-optical trapping geometry. We demonstrate the flexibility of the concept in creation and in situ modification of the trapping geometries through several experiments.
We report progress in our project on Integrated Atom Optics. We are exploring methods of producing surface-based microscopic atom optical elements that are made from permanent magnetic films and current-carrying microwires. We will discuss different configurations of microtraps, waveguides and couplers that can manipulate atomic de Broglie waves on the surface of a substrate. In particular we will describe the characteristics of a mirror magneto-optical trap that has allowed trapping of rubidium atoms in vicinity of a surface.
We demonstrate a gravito-optical surface trap for Cs atoms which exploits cooling in an evanescent light wave. About 105{0}^{5}05 atoms were cooled down to 3 \ensuremath{\mu}K and formed a sample with a mean height of $\ensuremath{\sim}20\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ above the surface of a dielectric prism. The trap does not use a magnetic field and leads to very small atomic level perturbations. The excited-state population of the stored atoms is $\ensuremath{\sim}1.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$ and collisional losses are strongly suppressed.
Summary form only given. Electromagnetic fields have been used extensively to manipulate and control atoms. Intersecting light beams are used to create standing waves that act as an optical lattice potential. Evanescent fields at a surface can be used as a mirror to reflect atoms scattering on the surface. Atoms can propagate inside a hollow core fiber provided that an evanescent surface field keeps the atoms away from the inner wall. These fields are used to move and locate atoms so that they can interact, interfere, and entangle. We have been examining the two color scheme with realistic integrated optical waveguide structures. In this presentation, we show that two-dimensional and three-dimensional trapping configurations can be achieved for real waveguide structures. We discuss the design features that must be addressed to implement optical structures for use in atom optics.