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Applied Optics

Magneto-optic trap of Rb atoms with an injection-seeded laser that operates at two frequencies

Han Seb Moon, J. B. Kim, J. D. Park, Brain K. Kwon, H. Cho, H. S. Lee

Published Sep 20, 1996• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We captured Rb atoms in a magneto-optic trap by using two frequencies in an injection-seeding process of a diode laser without the use of a separate repumping laser. In the incomplete injection-seeding condition, the power of the free-running slave laser at the repumping frequency can be partially converted into power at the master laser frequency, which is stabilized at the cooling frequency. We measured conversion efficiencies and frequency shifts based on the injecting power and the preset frequency difference between the master laser and the slave laser.

DOI
10.1364/ao.35.005402

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We captured Rb atoms in a magneto-optic trap by using two frequencies in an injection-seeding process of a diode laser without the use of a separate repumping laser. In the incomplete injection-seeding condition, the power of the free-running slave laser at the repumping frequency can be partially converted into power at the master laser frequency, which is stabilized at the cooling frequency. We measured conversion efficiencies and frequency shifts based on the injecting power and the preset frequency difference between the master laser and the slave laser.
The output from two grating-stabilized external-cavity diode lasers were injected into a single-mode diode laser. Operating at a wavelength of 780 nm, this laser produced ~50 mW of power with two main frequency components of the same spectral characteristics of the seed lasers. The power ratio of the amplified components was freely adjustable due to gain saturation, and amplification was observed for frequency differences of the two seed lasers in the range from 73 MHz to 6.6 GHz. This system was used to realize a dual isotope magneto-optic trap (MOT) for rubidium (85Rb and 87Rb). The resulting position and cloud size of the dual isotope MOT was the same as that of the single species MOTs to within "±10 and "±20 μm, respectively. We also characterized the additional spectral components produced by four wave mixing (FWM) in the diode laser amplifier and utilized a particular FWM sideband to realize hyperfine pumping and subsequent laser trapping of 85Rb in the absence of a "repump" laser dedicated to hyperfine pumping.
Summary form only given. We have constructed a prototype of an /sup 87/Rb fountain clock. We collect 10/sup 10/ /sup 87/Rb atoms in a vapor cell magneto-optic trap (MOT). The laser system for trapping and cooling is entirely solid state--a grating stabilized laser injects a separate slave laser for each of the six beams of the MOT. We launch the atoms by frequency shifting the three downward propagating laser beams and then increasing the detuning and gradually reducing the intensity of the slave lasers to adiabatically cool the atoms to low temperatures in the fountain.
In this paper, we present a technique for magneto-optical cooling and trapping of neutral atoms using a single laser. The alternating-frequency magneto-optical trap (AF-MOT) uses an agile light source that sequentially switches between cooling and repumping transition frequencies by tuning the injection current of the laser diode. We report on the experimental demonstration of such a system for 87Rb and 85Rb based on a microintegrated extended cavity diode laser performing laser frequency jumps of up to 6.6 GHz with a tuning time in the microsecond regime and a repetition rate of up to 7.6 kHz. For that, a combination of a feed-forward for coarse frequency control and a feedback for precise locking was used. We discuss the results of the AF-MOT characterization in terms of atom numbers and cloud temperature for different operation parameters.
We have laser cooled an atomic beam of rubidium with diode lasers and have used these slow atoms to load a magneto-optical trap. The cooling is performed with the frequency-chirp method,1,2 in which the laser's frequency is ramped linearly (by the injection currant) to maintain resonance with the decelerating atoms. Two synchronously chirped lasers are required to prevent optical hyperfine pumping of the ground state. The chirp typically covers 500 MHz in 10 ms. At the end of each ramp, the resulting velocity distribution is measured with a pulsed probe laser. By varying the end point of the chirp, we are able to obtain slow atoms with average velocities ranging from 200 to −50 m/s. The widths of the velocity distributions are measured to be approximately 40 m/s. This relatively large width results from the inherent linewidth (~30 MHz) of the free-running diode lasers used for both cooling and probing.
By optical injection of an 852-nm extended-cavity diode laser (master laser) to lock the + 1-order sideband of a ~9-GHz-current-modulated diode laser (slave laser), we generate a pair of phase-locked lasers with a frequency difference up to ~9-GHz for a cesium (Cs) magneto-optical trap (MOT) with convenient tuning capability. For a cesium MOT, the master laser acts as repumping laser, locked to the Cs 6S₁/₂ (F = 3) - 6P₃/₂ (F' = 4) transition. When the + 1-order sideband of the 8.9536-GHz-current-modulated slave laser is optically injection-locked, the carrier operates on the Cs 6S₁/₂ (F = 4) - 6P₃/₂ (F' = 5) cooling cycle transition with -12 MHz detuning and acts as cooling/trapping laser. When carrying a 9.1926-GHz modulation signal, this phase-locked laser system can be applied in the fields of coherent population trapping and coherent manipulation of Cs atomic ground states.